


Not Bad At All

by ameliabee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1960s, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, Kinda, M/M, Slow Burn, Ymir's short hair like in the season 2 flashback
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-10-15 09:25:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10553968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameliabee/pseuds/ameliabee
Summary: A bustling Monday afternoon spread out over the town of Shinganshina. A new school year had just commenced, meaning the graduating class of ’67 had new reasons to buckle down as they were thrown into their last year of high school.-This story is about falling in love, cigarettes, car sex and delving deeper into life than you knew was possible. This is a love story, this a funny story, this is a sad story but most importantly this is their story. Sometimes there is more to love than meets the eye.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okkkkkkkkaayyyyyyyyy. Here we go lovelies. This chapter starts with Ymir! It sets the scene and there are some /mad/ bants between my new fav 60s au trio. I hope y'all enjoy. Sorry if you don't like smoking, but they smoked a lot in the 60s! I tried to be kinda historically accurate. This chapter is kinda short so sorry about that, the others won't be as short I promise (I promise) ;))

Chapter 1  
A bustling Monday afternoon spread out over the town of Shinganshina. A new school year had just commenced, meaning the graduating class of ’67 had new reasons to buckle down as they were thrown into their last year of high school.

Ymir draped herself ungracefully across the top row of bleachers overlooking Shinganshina high’s sports field. The sun poured down upon her tanned skin as it soaked up the very last drops of summer’s rays.

“It’s a wonder you haven’t dropped out yet, freckles” a familiar voice heckled.

Ymir lazily turned her eyes upwards to gaze up at the source of the noise. Her eyes met with a pair of hazel ones.

“Ah fuck up will ya baldy?”

“Yeah, Yeah. Whatever”

Connie Springer, a notoriously short, class clown type of guy, had known Ymir since they were kids. Connie unceremoniously lifted Ymir’s long legs from the seat they resided upon and replaced the space with his backside. He then proceeded to drop the legs back down into his lap.

Ymir made no comment on the matter, continuing to chew on her increasingly stale bubblegum.

“Got anything to smoke?” Ymir questioned.

“Nah, ran out, Sasha’s grabbing us more right about now pretty sure” Connie replied, “Should be joining us sooner than later”

Ymir grunted non-committedly, scanning the ground for the girl in question. There was no Sasha in sight so she gave up, instead, turning her attention to a growing crowd of people below them.

Most of the faces were easy to recognise, but at the centre of the group was a blonde head of hair, unfamiliar to Ymir.

“Who’s the new chick?” Ymir muttered to no one in particular, adding “the blondie" when Connie looked over, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m guessing you ditched assembly then?”

“Look who ya talking to” Ymir snorted.

Connie smirked, “She’s a transfer from Sina” waggling his eyebrows, “Heard she’s going steady with Jaeger, long-time family friends or something.”

Ymir snorted again, squinting her eyes to get a better look.

“Sina, you say?”

Connie nodded.

“Guess we won’t have to worry ‘bout her engaging with us bottom feeders anytime soon, aye?” Ymir used her knee to nudge Connie’s stomach, “Not bad looking though, that shirt fits her very well”

“Keep it in your goddamned pants Ymir!” Connie blushed.

“God you’re such a virgin” Ymir cackled, “Been saving all your love for Sasha, haven’t ya? They the only tits you’re ogling round here.”

It was common knowledge that Connie had it bad for Sasha Blouse. Ymir, Connie, and Sasha had been tight since middle school, yet Connie had never found the courage to make any moves on the poor girl. Sasha was oblivious as ever to his interest, shutting down anyone who suggested he wanted her.

“Says you Ymir! You’re as untouched as Mother Mary ‘erself!” Connie retaliated.

“Pfft, I got more girls lining up to swap spit than you could count!” Ymir defended herself, “Plus, I’m a chick”

“You sure don’t act like one”

Ymir snorted a third time, “Yeah, truth.”

The pair was interrupted by a giggling Sasha, jogging up the stands to meet them.

“Guess who has two thumbs and managed to bum a pack off Annie?” Sasha grinned jabbing her thumbs towards herself, “This gal!”

She laughed at herself, as Ymir rolled her eyes.

Sasha wasted no time grabbing Ymir under the arms, hoisting her upper body off the seat, much like Connie had done with her legs not too long ago. Sasha let Ymir’s head fall into her lap as she sat down.

She flipped a cigarette out of the pack letting it sit between her lips, “Light me up, Connie-boy” she managed around the cancer-stick.

Ymir stole the pack from her hands, indulging herself to one as well.

Connie leant over, lighting Sasha’s first and then Ymir’s, finally snagging one himself and taking a puff.

They sigh collectively at the familiar feeling. It was good to be entering their senior year, the end so close they could taste the freedom. They didn’t have the luxury of dropping out. Too poor to stay mooching off their parents, not accomplished or responsible enough to get work without a high school degree backing them up.

Connie had toyed with the idea of leaving school in 10th grade but until Sasha said she would be sad to not have classes with him anymore. That changed his mind quicker than Ymir could start retching at the blush that had spread across his cheeks.

Sasha had had a job at a sweet shop for a while but got fired when she was caught stealing. Ymir laughed internally at the memory. The pig hadn’t even gone for the cash, nope, she was stuffing chocolates and hard candy down her bra when she was supposed to be replenishing stock out back.

“Shit!” Connie swore, “Mr Smith on the horizon! Quick put ‘em out”

The three snuffed out the cigarettes under their feet, kicking the evidence under the bench seat.

“He’s quite the looker, ain’t he?” Sasha sighed to herself as the English teacher approached, “I’ve been trying for his attention since last term”

“Sasha, he’s ancient!” Connie said with wide eyes.

Sasha shushed him with a laugh, adjusting her shirt so it hung lower.

“Mr Smith!” Sasha called out with a flashy smile.

“Hello, Sasha” the cool voice rang out. “You kids shouldn’t be up here, Mr Shadis is conducting quite the P.E class down there and I’m not sure he’d be happy you three are missing out”

Sasha launched into an explanation, making sure to stick her chest out as she did so. Ymir’s eyes turned to the field were a match of what looked like the baseball was being played by the boys, with the girls jogging around the edges. They called out encouragements and cheered when runs were made. Ymir found the little blondie from before, she was wearing the school issued PE suit, a deep green one piece with built-in shorts and a tie around the middle, showing off her trim waist. The top part was pulled tight over her chest. She was bouncing in place, cheering for the player up to bat, her alleged boyfriend Eren Jaeger.

Ymir had to hold in a snort, Eren was a rich kid asshole. Arrogant and loud-mouthed, brown hair styled somewhat haphazardly; Ymir figured it must be fitting. Blondie was from Sina, the fact that she was slumming it in Shinganshina high, despite the rich part of the population, must be considered somewhat of an act of charity back home.

Ymir felt anger stir through her. Blondie should go back to where she came from unless of course, she was willing to let loose and allow Ymir a night of fun. Ymir doubted that would happen though, so, therefore, she should just leave. She should bring Eren with her too.

“… Ymir just had such a horrible headache and we had to be here with her or else we were ‘fraid she might faint!” Sasha spoke dramatically, pulling Ymir back to her senses as Sasha fanned her hands too close to her face.

“Oh yeah,” Ymir coughed, “Running around would have been far too much for me Teach, you see, and these two just make me feel so much better.”

Mr Smith was raising a single bushy eyebrow, clearly buying nothing. Connie was holding back a giggle as Sasha nodded, patting Ymir’s dark head soothingly.

“Well, I’m very sorry to hear that Ymir, don’t you think it’s best to see a nurse then?”

“You know what, Sir?” Ymir sat up off Sasha’s lap, “I think that might be best,” seizing the moment as a way to get out of class entirely.

“But Ymir-“ Sasha smiled too wide, staring at Ymir intensely with angry eyes.

“Thanks a heap guys, I’ll be sure to tell the nurse what an ‘uge help you were,” Ymir said trying hard not to chuckle at their annoyed faces.

“That’s a clever idea Ymir,” Mr Smith smiled, patting her shoulder as she walked off, proceeding to stick her tongue out at the pair she left behind.

“Alright, well you both better go on and get down there and join in now your friend is fine,” Mr Smith told the two.

“Wouldn’t it be best to help her to the nur-“

“No Connie she’ll be fine I’m sure” the teacher cuts him off, their voices fading away as Ymir saunters down the stairs, laughing to herself.

 

-+-

As expected, Ymir did not go to the nurse’s office, instead opting leave school an hour early. This was a ritual of Ymir’s. The streets were quiet at this time of day, and gym class was easy to skip as Shadis was a pig who focused on only his star players. This, of course, was good for the likes of Ymir.

She kicked at the dusty sidewalk as she walked, the afternoon sun warm on her back.

Her house wasn’t far from the school. 10 minutes if she pushed for it, 15 if she was feeling lazy. Today was definitely a lazy day. The longer she walked down the streets, the more run down the houses looked. Ymir smiled to herself.

Shinganshina was the connector between the richer towns of Sina or Trost and the ghetto areas of Karanese and the rest of Maria. This meant most in the town were either full-out rich or full-out poor.

Ymir was poor. Her friends were poor. She wasn’t scared of dirt or sleeping on pillows without coverings. It was a sense of pride. She was of the lower-class society, she’d never marry into a rich family because she didn’t want to.

Of course, money would be great, but if she was going to get anywhere she’d get there herself. When she was younger, she used to fantasise about having a beautiful wife and a house they’d make their own. Ymir then realised in order to have a marry a chick she’d need a penis but figured she could pass as a bloke if she kept her hair real short. Then she grew tits. That foiled her plans.

Ymir had given up dreams of romance, as most girls wanted nothing more than a hook-up or to ‘experiment’. Ymir had no problems with that though, she wasn’t one who wanted strings attached.

Soon enough, Ymir’s home came into view. The familiar scene of her neighbour, Mrs Leonhart, tending to her garden was playing out. Annie Leonhart, her daughter, was in the same year as Ymir, and they often hung out with the same crowds. Mrs Leonhart had no idea of the low-level dealer that her daughter had become, supplying most of the high school with cheap cigarettes and crappy booze. She was a cool chick.

“Hi Ymir, sweetheart” She yelled out, waving a gloved hand.

“Afternoon” Ymir called as she drew closer, stopping by their chipped white fence to observe Mrs Leonhart’s work.

Mrs Leonhart smiled up at her neighbour, dusting her hands off on her dirtied apron.

“Whadda you think, lovey?” The women gestured to the newly planted flowers, “Annie’s aunt gave ‘em to me as a birthday gift! Do you know her husband owns a garden store? It’s just wonderful…”

Ymir tuned out as she looked down at the garden. Mrs Leonhart could talk for hours, it made Ymir wonder if the reason Annie was so quiet was because she never had to do any talking as a child, maybe she never learned how.

Mrs Leonhart seemed to be finished speaking so Ymir smiled awkwardly and complimented the flower’s colour. This seemed to please the woman, so, marking that one down as a victory for herself, Ymir walked off.

Ymir’s house was once a pastel blue colour, but the paint was chipped and the planks weathered to a point that the colour was barely there anymore. Ymir swung the door open and sauntered inside.

“Honey, I’m home!” Ymir shouted her usual sarcastic greeting.

“That was one funny one time, asshat.”

The face of Yvonne, Ymir’s 19-year-old sister danced into view. Her long hair was up in their mother’s rollers and she was wearing a black party dress that cut off at the knees.

“Fuck off, you look like a skank widow!” Ymir spat, earning her a middle finger in exchange.

“It’s classy! Something you could hardly pull off” Yvonne ran her eyes in scrutiny up and down her younger sister.

“Whatever” Ymir changed the subject, “Mike picking you up or something?”

Her sister sighed happily, clutching her at her chest, “Yep! At 6” she smiled dreamily.

Ymir looked at her sister in bewilderment. She was head over heels for this loser, she was getting ready for a date she had hours to prepare for. On a Monday. What an airhead!  
Ymir decided not to comment further, instead muttering “don’t come back with no babies in ya” with a smirk.

Her sister didn’t hear her.

Ymir journeyed to the small kitchen area, where she faced with her mother who was busying herself with her youngest son, who was not yet old enough for school.  
She mumbled a hello as she leant onto the bench. Ymir could tell her mother was a little confused as to why she was home earlier than normal but didn’t mention it; instead, raising a thin eyebrow.

Her mother was a whirlwind. Her skin was slightly darker than Ymir’s and, if it was possible, her flesh was adorned with more freckles than Ymir’s as well. She had done well raising a big family with limited resources. Their father was working a lot, and when he wasn’t he was out with his buddies or sleeping.

Ymir didn’t like her father much. He was hardly home at the same time as Ymir, and when he was he lectured and chastised.

He was old and cynical and dried up. Ymir found it easier to be around her mother. Her mother was loud and sarcastic, but also sweet and comforting when she needed to be. She wore her hair short like Ymir did, but it was always brushed and curled nicely. She had long eyelashes and stood a good bit shorter than Ymir, even with heeled shoes on.

Ymir liked to waste away her after-school time either ambling around the neighbourhood wreaking minor havoc, smoking with Annie and her group, or alternatively, blasting records in her shared bedroom with Yvonne.

Tonight, it was the latter.

Yvonne sat in front of a dirty mirror coating her eyelashes in mascara.

Ymir hummed along to the song playing, lying with hands behind her head, kicking her long legs into the air aimlessly. Yvonne huffed, turning around to face her sister.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” she questioned tiredly.

Ymir looked over with a blank stare. “Nope.”

Yvonne curled her lip and rolled her eyes. She returned to her makeup, Ymir had to look away when she started the eyeliner, it made her feel icky. No sharp object should be that close to someone’s eyeball.

“Oi, you know Hitch, right?” Yvonne said

Ymir looked back over, nodding her head.

“You know how she’s totally in love with that Eren boy, yeah? You’re in his year ain’t cha?”

Ymir furrowed her brows, “Yeah I know ‘im, not friendly with ‘im though.”

“Thought as much,” Yvonne hummed, “Hitch was going OFF about it this morning! Reckons he’s walking out with some new Sina girl?”

Blondie. Ymir snorted. Rumours spread quickly around here.

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of all that.”

“You saw her?” Yvonne seemed excited.

“Yeah, from a distance”

“Neat! Hitch was tryna get me to set you on their case,” Yvonne widened her eyes comically, “She needs intel, desperately” she whined, mimicking Hitch's pleading.

Hitch dropped out of school a few years ago, she works now at her father’s bakery alongside Yvonne, who had charmed her way into the job when she finished school last year.  
Ymir sneered. “No way, I’m not interacting with them, high-class snobs!”

“Oh, come off it! You think you’re so righteous. Just tell us whether or not the stories are true, Hitch will chew my ear off about it if you don’t.” Yvonne moved back around to her mirror, slathering pink lipstick over her pouted lips.

“Whatever” Ymir rolled her eyes.

Blondie knew how to make herself known, alright. Ymir didn’t have it in herself to care, but it seemed that everyone else did.

Sina girls were infamous. Rich fathers and pristine pressed clothes, and yet they got into just as much- if not more shit than any young hoodlum could dare to. No one ever gave them any more than a small chastisement for it though. No one dared to mess with their factory owners and CEO fathers. Any damage to their silky-smooth reputations would be fatal, nobody wanted to see what would come off an officer who arrested any pristine little blondie or clean-cut fellow.

Jaeger probably thought himself real lucky, having his lady come down to Shinganshina without a rich father to contain her. Ymir pondered the reason she left her home at all. Perhaps she was stirring trouble and needed to be sent away.

Ymir chuckled at that for some reason, causing Yvonne to frown at her.

Ymir just sighed, sinking down into the bed. It was going to be a year, that’s for sure. She was more than ready to no longer to attend school.

The record’s first side finished playing so Ymir got up to flip it. The start of the next song played out across the small room. Yvonne continued to hum as she finished off her makeup.

One more year. An entirely average, one last year.

Rolling her eyes at her internal monologue, Ymir returned to her spot on the bed, fully prepared not to move until it was time to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed your intro to 60s Ymir! Next chapter will be Eren so hang in there >:))) This fic will switch between Eren and Ymir. Their respective love stories will blossom and intertwine as the plot continues. If you liked please leave comments and kudos and suchhhhhh. I will cry from happiness. XOXOOXO


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay it's Eren!! I really hope you guys like this chapter :)))))) Read on XOXOO

Chapter 2  
Eren was impatient. It didn’t matter who or what he was waiting for; the pain was always excruciating. This time was no exception.

Eren was practically ready to burst, he wanted to leave! School was over! 

Relief flooded him when he finally saw the people he was waiting for walking towards him.

“Heyyy, Krista! Mikasa!” Eren waved his hand wildly in the air.

Krista. The name still felt strange on his lips. Krista was not her name. The blonde girl waving back at him was Historia. Calling her Krista felt unnatural.

He was greeted with a smile and a peck on the cheek. Oh yeah, this was something that was happening, wasn’t it? 

Krista, his girlfriend Krista. 

Mikasa watched the scene with a blank stare. 

“That’s nauseating,” she muttered.

Eren did feel kind of bad for Mikasa. They had all known each other since they were little kids. Eren and Mikasa’s family was close with Historia’s. Many a summer had been spent in Sina, swimming in the Reiss family private pool, eating ice-cream, playing under the watchful eye of their parents. 

They used to call each other cousins, ‘Cousin-Historia’. Her father had been called ‘Uncle-Rod’. Those memories made the kissing and sweet-talking a little awkward for everyone.

Eren started the ignition on his car. It was a red Chevy Camaro. His parents had gifted it to him on his 16th birthday last year. He had been ecstatic, and miraculously, had managed not to crash it yet.

Jean had badgered Eren to let him use the car multiple times, but Eren didn’t trust Jean’s stupid head not to damage it somehow.

“So, uh, Historia…” Eren started.

“Call her Krista,” Mikasa corrected from the backseat, not very impressed with having her normal spot in the shotgun taken away from her.

“But we all know she’s Historia!” Eren argued, “It’s stupid to have to call her Krista.” 

Historia looks over with understanding eyes. 

“I know it’s strange for you Eren,” she smooths her hair back with her hands, “But I don’t mind, and plus,” she pauses for a second, then continuing on with a smaller voice, “My father said you should be calling me Krista, even at home or when we’re alone. I, um, I think we should listen to him.”

The mood in the car stiffens. Mikasa looks down and Eren tightens his grip on the steering wheel, nodding. 

Eren still didn’t fully understand all the reasoning behind Historia’s transfer to Shinganshina, as far as he had been aware, everything had been going fine in Sina. They had gone up to visit the Reiss’s for a weekend after Christmas last year when the news had been sprung. Historia was to finish her Junior year in Sina and then come down and do her senior year at Shinganshina high.

It was after that, that the two families started spending a lot more time together. Lunches or dinners together became more frequent, as well as weekends away or trips to the beach.

Eren’s mother had started pressing for Eren and Historia to catch up alone, or with groups of friends their age. It was during these times that the pair and decided they had feelings for each other. Eren had never had feelings like that for her before and it had been awkward when it first started. Even now, sometimes Eren forgot they were actually a couple and would get surprised for a second if Historia ever slid her hand into his or kissed his cheek.

It wasn’t that Eren didn’t like Historia; he thought she was great! She was pretty, kind and fun to be around. She was also tiny, standing at only 145cm tall. It made it easy for Eren to pick her up and it also meant she had to stand on the very tips of her toes, almost having to hang off the taller boy, to give him a kiss. Eren thought that was really cute.   
He liked her blonde hair and her big blue eyes. He knew how excited a lot of the boys who met her today had been, turning into puddles as she walked past.  
That had angered Eren a bit, it had also made him confused. 

Historia was his girlfriend, wasn’t she? Why isn’t he melting into the floor when she clings to his arm or smiles up at him? Eren chalked it up to having known her since she was little, he’d just had time to get used to it.

Eren’s mother Carla was waiting for them when they got home. She was cooking something when they walked in the door. Eren held the door for Historia as she entered.

“Krista darling, how was your first day?” Carla smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I trust you and Mikasa kept Eren out of trouble…” 

Historia let out a little giggle, “Yes Mrs Jaeger! It was good. We had gym today and Eren did really well! Everyone was really welcoming.” 

Carla lead them to the kitchen where she had started to prepare dinner. She raised an eyebrow at Eren over Historia’s blonde head. 

“That’s nice to hear, Eren must have been trying to impress you I’m sure.” 

Eren screwed up his face for a second, before recomposing himself. It was icky the way his mother made it sound so romantic! It was only baseball.

The two ladies giggled, Eren tuned out when they started discussing the fit of Historia’s PE uniform. She had to borrow Mikasa’s old one while they were waiting for the uniform shop to give them the new one. 

Luckily, Mikasa used to be small too, meaning the uniform wasn’t huge on the girl. Eren looked at his adopted sister who was now almost pushing past the height of Eren himself. She had spurted up a lot since freshman year. 

Mikasa was helping herself to a glass of orange juice from the fridge. Eren floated over, taking the bottle from his sister to pour one for himself. 

Mikasa talked in a hushed voice to her brother, “Krista seems to be fitting in well.”

Eren raised an eyebrow, “Yeah?” Knowing there was more to the observation than a simple statement.

“Every guy in the place was eating her up today. I caught her before she got changed out of her gym stuff, you better hope the uniform ladies deliver quickly.” 

Eren cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy-dog. Mikasa rolled her eyes.

She pulled on his arm, taking him out of the kitchen and into the lounge room next door. Eren looked out longingly into the kitchen, where his abandoned orange juice sat. 

“Don’t play stupid alright Eren.” Mikasa had her serious face on, “Krista is vulnerable, she’s a tiny little rich girl from Sina, not to mention she’s a real hit with guys. Every idiot in the place had their eyes on her. I just don’t want some scumbag taking advantage of her.”

Eren swallowed, “I definitely get it, I’ll keep her safe. She’s too… kind lately. You know?” 

Mikasa nodded, “Yeah, and with some of the hoodlums at our school…” She shakes her head a little, “She acts too innocent. Armin noticed it this morning. He reckons that maybe she doesn’t want to seem snobby, so she’s really playing the sweet and welcoming card, you dig?”

Eren laughed out loud at that. “You dig? I think you’ve been spending too much time with Jean.”

Mikasa’s eyes widened. “I have not! Shut up! Maybe I was just trying to dumb it down a little so you’d understand,” she smirked.

“Since when have you ever been that considerate?” Eren teased, sticking his tongue out. 

He thought he saw a small blush riding Mikasa’s cheeks when he mentioned Jean. Eren didn’t say anything about it though, hoping to god he had been imagining it. 

-+-  
Monday nights were never fun. Eren lounged on the couch in front of the TV, moving constantly in an attempt to find a comfy position. 

Historia was in the kitchen, helping Mrs Jaeger with the cooking. Normally, that was Mikasa’s job, but Historia had offered as ‘repayment’ for letting her stay. Historia hadn’t even chided Mikasa for her laziness, not even good-heartedly.

Eren shrugged it off, he was just happy Historia wasn’t in the mood to scold. Mikasa and his mother did enough of that as it is.

Mikasa was standing by the phone chatting to Armin. Armin was Eren and Mikasa’s best friend. He had been since they were all very young. Armin was a genius. Eren had passed entire classes just from copying off of Armin’s work.

They weren’t allowed to use the phone for more than 10 minutes or else they would get in trouble. Mikasa was pushing the 9-and-a-half-minute mark when Mrs Jaeger looked over, fixing a warning glance as if to say, ‘hurry it up’. 

Mikasa sighed and said her goodbyes before placing the phone back down.

“What did Armin want?” Eren asked through a yawn. 

“He said that his Grandpa wants to meet Krista,” Mikasa grinned, “Also said to remind you to study for the English quiz because it’s an ‘important foundation for the semester’ or something.”

Eren rolled his eyes, of course Armin had to remind him of that. They had a relatively new English teacher, Mr Smith, Eren recalled. He was still highly motivated and fresh but miraculously knew how to keep a class under control too. He was a pain.

His mother voice cut through Eren’s thoughts, “Well we should invite them around for dinner one night! Krista sweetie, you’ve met Armin, haven’t you?”

Historia looked up from where she was cutting up potatoes. “Yeah, I met him this morning.”

Eren tuned out as his mother explained to Historia all about Armin and his grandfather. Carla loved Armin, said he was a ‘good influence’ on her son. Armin’s parents died in an automobile accident when he was only 6 years old, so he had to move in with his grandfather. Eren had never really known Mr and Mrs Arlert, but seeing the effect it had on their son was devastating to the young boy.

Carla had helped look after the Armin a lot in the first few years. His grandfather adored Carla and feeling indebted to her, never missed a moment to thank her for her kindness. Grandfather Arlert had often babysat Eren and Mikasa if ever Carla and her husband Grisha wanted time to themselves, too.

The man had laughed when Armin informed him of Eren’s girlfriend, wanting to meet the infamous ‘Krista’. 

Judging by the way his mother’s eyes had lit up at the thought of a dinner with the Arlerts, Eren supposed there was no way of getting out of it now. Eren had no worries though, Historia could charm people easily.

The rest of the evening held much of the same. Eren’s father Grisha returned home at 6.30 and dinner was eaten shortly after. 

The adults relayed their usual questions, directing the bulk of them at Historia. Eren felt kind of bad. He knew what this was like. Similar situations occurred when he had first started middle school, and then again when he first started high school. Although, he’d always had Mikasa to share the load as they were the same age and therefore were in the same year of school.

The conversation drew to a cease when the family heard a timid knock on the door. 

Eren jumped from his seat, eager for an excuse to move around. He opened the door to the face of one Marco Bodt.

“Marco!” Eren says with a grin. 

Marco was a nice guy. He had short black hair and a collection of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. He was easy to get along with, considerate and smart. He was good friends with Jean, a boy who, Eren thought to himself, was the exact opposite of Marco.

“Hi Eren,” the boy smiled brightly, “I was wondering if you and Mikasa and um- Krista would wanna come hang with Jean and me. He’s got his football with him and reckons he needs more people to have a proper kick or whatever.” Marco finished, running a pale hand through his hair. 

Eren winced at the slightly awkward situation. “Uh, sorry Marco, we can’t come right now, we’re just in the middle of dinner and Dad won’t let us off that easy,” Eren explained apologetically. 

Marco’s face grew impossibly paler.

“Oh my Gosh, I am so sorry! Your parents must hate me! I can’t believe I didn’t realise. You know how it is, my Mum works the night shift at the hospital! Jean’s too, so we have to eat dinner earlier than normal! I’m so sorry, Eren.” He spluttered out his apology, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“It’s fine! I promise,” Eren chuckled at Marco’s mortified expression. “Just wait a sec, we’ll be out before you know it.”

Marco nodded, seeming to calm down a little. 

Eren returned to the table, explaining Marco’s invitation. Historia started shovelling mashed potatoes into her mouth at a quicker rate, happy with the suggestion. Grisha only seemed a tiny bit ticked off at the interruption.

Marco jumped up when he heard the door open and watched as the three teenagers poured out. 

He greeted them with a sheepish smile, apologising again for interrupting during their dinner.

“Marco, you care too much,” Mikasa said decidedly.

Eren and Historia nodded at that, Historia grinning at a once again blushing Marco.

The four walked towards the small park area, around 5 minutes from their house. They were greeted with the sight of Jean standing atop the small fence lining the park. He had a ball tucked underneath his arm, and with the other one, he was waving.

Marco lifted a hand to wave back. 

“Took your sweet time didn’t you!” Jean hollered, a stupid grin on his face.

“We had to eat dinner, you dip,” Eren yelled back, jogging up to him.

Jean laughed, “I’m down-the-tubes for making Marco interrupt, aren’t I?” Leaping off the fence to pat Marco’s shoulder. 

Marco rolled his eyes and tried for an angry look at Jean, but failed to fight off the grin pulling at his lips.

Historia cocked her head to the side, her plucked brows furrowed, “Down-the-tubes?” 

Mikasa starts laughing, amused by Historia’s confusion.

“Jean thinks he’s real tuff because he uses lots of fancy lingo,” Eren explains, fighting away a laugh. 

“You’ll get used to it,” Mikasa reassured, patting Historia’s blonde head awkwardly. 

Historia looks up at her with an unimpressed stare. It was the most normal Historia interaction Eren had seen all day. 

“Poor little Krista has only ever been exposed to good, proper American,” Jean says staring wistfully into the sky. “We’ll have you talking like you’ve lived in Shinganshina all your life by the end of this!”

“Eren doesn’t talk like that though,” Historia giggled, moving away from Mikasa to snake a slim arm around Eren’s waist. 

Eren looks down at the girl next to him, confused by the way she could change her demeanour so quickly like that. It was like she remembered she had to act differently and amped it up all of a sudden to compensate. 

Eren awkwardly moved his arm up, placing it around her shoulder so she was comfortable. 

Jean responded with gusto, continuing on in his fake high-pitched voice. “That’s because his parents raised him correctly! Putting all his money into his education and wellbeing!”  
“We literally go to the same school.” 

Jean turned his head away dramatically, “I, however, had no such cushy upbringing! I was forced to learn the lingo of the streets!” He turned back around, wiggling his fingers, narrowing his eyes at his small audience.

Everyone chuckled and shook their heads at the boy’s antics. 

“Your house is massive and you’ve been spoilt rotten your whole life ‘Jean-bo’” Eren managed between laughs. 

Jean fixed him a look, the laughter leaving his face instantly. This made everyone laugh even further.

They launched quickly a game of kickball. Mikasa won easily each time, leaving Jean star-struck. They switched to a throwing competition because Jean claimed he could do that better. Mikasa threw further than Eren and Jean combined.

Historia had explained she’d rather watch then join in because she was wearing a skirt and was also ‘no good’ at football anyway. This confused Eren and Mikasa a lot, seeing as they knew that Historia’s older brothers had taught her how to kick practically as soon as she could walk, but they didn’t mention anything. Maybe she was just feeling sick.

The matter had been forgotten shortly afterwards anyway when Jean threw the ball at the back of Eren’s head.

After a while, Mikasa got ‘tired of winning’ and went to sit with Historia. The boys tossed the ball between themselves, keeping the conversation light as the sun began to set.   
Eren felt relaxed, he watched his sister sitting on the fence next to Historia, their silhouettes illuminated with the last drops of sunlight. Eren pushed his poetic thoughts away and instead tried to concentrate on Jean. He wasn’t poetic at all.

Eren felt a little worried about Historia. He knew there was a bigger reason behind her transfer, but he wasn’t sure if even Historia knew what it was. There was a reason they needed to call her Krista.

Eren had a feeling it was wearing down on Historia in ways she wouldn’t admit to him yet.

Eren stole one last look over at girls and jumped a little when his eyes were met with two shadowy figures positioned up against a building, a little away from the pair.   
There was two of them, one taller, hair in a messy ponytail, the other shorter, shoulders slumped. They were smoking. The smoke from the joints floated up into the air, making the air around the pair hazy. 

For some reason, the sight unnerved Eren. The figures looked dishevelled. A patched-up jean jacket on Ponytail and worn out leather on the short one. 

Eren reaches out behind him, tugging on Jean’s sleeve so that he stood next to him. The boy stumbled a little, cries of ‘what was that for!?’ filling the air.   
Eren shushes him, and motions towards the two. Jean narrows his eyes, trying to make out what they were looking out. 

Ponytail moves down to Shortie’s level and whispers something into his ear. Eren’s stomach lurches as he watches Ponytail point at Mikasa and Historia. 

“They’re creeping on the girls!” Jean hisses. 

Eren feels anger bubble inside him. This is exactly what Mikasa was talking about! 

Eren doesn’t hesitate any further, calling out Mikasa’s name as he jogs over. The girls look up, leaving their spot on the fence to meet the boys. 

Eren flicks his eyes up quickly to check on the smokers again. A pair of silver eyes meet his. Shorty was staring at him. Eren feels his stomach lurch. The sun was almost gone, this really was creepy. He was just glad it wasn’t Mikasa and Historia out here alone. 

Eren could still feel the eyes on him as he explained, ignoring how unnerved that made him feel. 

Historia stole a glance at the two, Eren moved instinctually closer to her as she did so. 

“Eek,” Historia made a face as she turned back around, “Were they really looking at us?” 

“One pointed and whispered some stuff,” Jean informed. 

Mikasa looked pointedly at Eren as if to say, ‘what was I telling you just before?’

“Don’t worry, Oh Krista of Mine!” Jean sang as they headed back home, “Eren shall protect your honour!”

Marco chuckled and Mikasa snorted indignantly. Historia moved closer into Eren, a small smile on her face. 

The chatter continued down the road, Marco and Jean broke off in different directions to get back to their respective houses. Eren complained about the cold and Mikasa told him off for not bringing a jacket. The chill of those steely eyes from before momentarily forgotten as the trio reached the safety of home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LEAVE COMMENTS AND KUDOS IF YOU LIKE. more coming soon ;))) lots of l o v e guys xo


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I'm back for a third chapter yo. This chapter is a Ymir chapter so hopefully you'll enjoy thatttttt. thanks for reading !!! Xoxoxo

Chapter 3  
Ymir’s familiar trek to school began. It was only halfway through the week yet she already felt run dry. It a little depressing how easily everyone had slipped back into the same routine. She’d much rather be slurping down a cola float in the middle of July then pretending to study and listening to teachers whine on.

Ymir normally walked to school alone. Annie used to walk with back in sophomore year but now she goes extra early so she can make out with her boyfriend Bertholdt before school starts. Ymir doesn’t know how Annie has it in her wake up so early.

Connie and Sasha were waiting by the front gates when Ymir arrived. 

“Did you not brush your hair this morning or something?” Sasha laughed, reaching out in an attempt to smooth down Ymir’s scruffy brown locks. 

“Probably.” Ymir yawned, knocking Sasha’s hand out of the way.

Ymir showed up late for homeroom which was expected. She sat next to Bertholdt who was sporting red marks up and down his jaw. Ymir silently thanked Annie the Vacuum for the perfect teasing ammunition. 

Bertholdt blushed so deeply the marks were momentarily camouflaged. Ymir laughed until she was equally as red.

First-period biology was spent with Connie, drawing socially unacceptable images onto an unsuspecting girls pencil case. 

The start of recess was welcomed with opened arms. Ymir shoved her pen into her pant pocket, sighing with relief to be out of the stuffy classroom. 

Reiner, a gigantic blonde and friend of Bertholdt was standing outside the entryway of the building, flexing his muscles for a group of onlookers. Ymir watched a dark-haired girl blush as Reiner threw a wink her way, she tugged inadvertently at the hem of her skirt, bunching it up higher on her leg. 

Ymir held in a snort. Reiner was a charmer, she’d give him that, but an idiot none-the-less.

She broke through the small crowd, giving the blonde a kick on the leg. 

Reiner yelped, hopping from foot to foot, giving Ymir a glare. The girls watching sniggered, the dark-haired one from before watching wide-eyed. Ymir blew an exaggerated kiss her way, causing her to let go of her skirt in shock and advert her eyes. 

The group disperses and Reiner fixes Ymir a look.

“What the fuck Freckles!?” Reiner looks down with a disapproving stare. 

“Ease up big boy!” Ymir smirks, punching him playfully on the arm, “You still got me to flex for don’t cha?” 

Reiner rolled his eyes, “I was guaranteed a date before you showed up! You owe me now.” 

“What? A date with skirt girl? Big loss right there,” Ymir mimicked the dark-haired girl’s actions, sticking out a long leg and biting her lip. 

Reiner smacked her head, “You know what? Fuck you!” 

He hid a laugh, changing the subject quickly, “You hitting the passion pit tomorrow night?” 

Ymir considered the question for a second, “Yeah I figured Sasha was gonna drag me into it. It’ll be pretty packed though-” 

Ymir’s last sentence was cut short as Reiner caught sight of someone walking past, sticking a hand into the air.

“Krista! Hey, Krista!” 

Ymir scanned the area for the person in question, eyes landing on a startled face staring at Reiner. It was Blondie!

Blondie, well ‘Krista’ apparently, made her way towards an excited Reiner. 

“How’s it going?” Reiner puffed his chest out fixing a grin on the considerably shorter girl. 

Ymir watched in interest. What did Reiner think he was doing? Blondie was with Jaeger and didn’t really seem like the type of chick who’d give Reiner the time of day anyway. 

Blondie tucked a stray hair behind her ear, replying politely to the boy in front of her. 

Reiner was playing it up, he asked her about the Thursday drive-in, boldly moving into place a hand on her shoulder. She opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a girl Ymir knew to be Mikasa. 

Mikasa was scary, even Ymir could admit that. 

“Krista, we need to go, Eren is waiting,” Mikasa spoke in a cold voice, giving Reiner a glare. 

Reiner retracted his hand from Krista and looked down in defeat. 

“Uh, sorry Reiner. I have to go see my boyfriend now. I’ll see what everyone thinks about Thursday!” She finished with a smile. 

Mikasa looked deadly, grabbing her hand and leading her away. Reiner lifted a hand in goodbye, looking longingly after the girl as she left. 

“Um, what was that!?” Ymir clapped Reiner on the back, “You tryna chat up Miss Blondie just now?” 

Reiner turned to Ymir, eyes shining. “I’m gonna get with her if it’s the last thing I do.”

“She’s with Jaeger! Did you not hear the ‘boyfriend’ part of the sentence? Have you got so bulked up that your brain is being suffocated or something?” Ymir shook her head at the boy.

Reiner grabs Ymir by the shoulders, “She’s an angel! Did you know she gave me a quarter yesterday when I was short of cash at the vending machine?” 

Ymir stares up blankly. “I’m sure that means she wants to bed ya. It’s not like she has a boyfriend or anything.”

Reiner narrows his eyes, “What does Eren have that I don’t? I’m taller and I’m better at baseball.”

Ymir snorts, “Money? A nice car?” 

Shoving Reiner away, she stalks off, not looking to waste any more of her recess. Reiner is ridiculous. He’d get over this quickly, find some other pretty face to lust after soon enough. Krista was hot no question, but she was completely out of Reiner’s league. She was out of Ymir’s league too. She was out of everyone’s league. She was from Sina for god sakes! Ymir didn’t have the patience for Reiner’s crush. 

At least she’d have something to feed back to Yvonne now. She wouldn’t tell her about the drive-in thing though. If she was going to get dragged along, the last thing she wanted to deal with was an angry Hitch out for blonde blood.

When the final bell rang signally the end of the day Ymir was fidgety and wanted a cigarette. She walked home with Connie and they shared one as they dawdled down the street. 

“Your hair is getting long,” Connie observed out loud, tugging at a strand. 

“You jealous I can actually grow hair baldy?”

“I can grow hair! Fuck off!” Connie ran a hand over his head.

“Give me some proof then,” Ymir teased, taking another puff of the cigarette.

Connie rolled his eyes and hesitated for a moment like he was going to say something. He didn’t though. it was coming up to his turn-off so they grunted their goodbyes and parted ways. 

Connie had gone a few minutes out of his way to walk with Ymir, which puzzled her a bit. She thought about his hesitation before leaving and wondered if there was something he wanted to talk about. Ymir looked up at sky in exasperation. 

Chances where he was looking to dump some of his Sasha garbage onto her. Ymir felt no sympathy for him if he refused to go make a move! She had better things think about.

-+-

 

Ymir was not wrong about Sasha dragging her along to the drive-in. Ymir went to Sasha’s house after school cause Sasha wanted to make herself look ‘cute’. Ymir complained loudly about how she was the worst possible person to help her do that and Sasha argued back that she could help by giving her opinion. She devised a scale from ‘avoid me’ to ‘kiss me’ to ‘do me’ that Ymir could rate her on. 

Ymir chose ‘avoid me’ every time until Sasha got frustrated and sent her out.

Hours later, Connie showed up in his brother’s car, which was a bit shit, but a car nonetheless. 

“You got the money, asshole?” Ymir asked as she flung herself into the shotgun despite Sasha’s cries of protest.

Connie held up the 3 dollar notes in-between his middle and forefinger, “You betcha! Martin won’t even notice it’s gone.”

Ymir gave him a high-five, “I ain’t paying you back so enjoy the feeling while it lasts.”

Sasha cackles from the backseat and Connie shakes his head as he drives off. 

The movie had just started when the trio pulled into the theatre. Some western film was playing but they weren’t really interested. Ymir swung the door open, putting her feet on the car seat and pulling herself up so her arms rested on the car roof. 

The night air was cool against her skin as she scanned the crowd. Reiner said he’d be here and if the movie wasn’t gonna be anything of interest, Ymir would have to entertain herself by watching him vie for that Krista’s attention.

Scanning the sea of cars her eyes finally found what she was looking for. A few rows of seats had been unloaded onto the grass and sure enough, Reiner had found his way into one. He was already on to Krista by the looks of things. Jaeger and his sister were there too, along with an assortment of others. 

Ymir suspected Annie and Bertholdt would be in a car somewhere getting things started. It wasn’t called a passion pit for nothing.

“Well, I’m off!” Ymir jumped down from her standing position, leaning briefly down to grin at Connie and Sasha. 

“You kids have fun now!” Ymir shot a wink at Connie, ignoring the blush that appeared, “You know where to find me if ya need.” 

Sasha clambered into the abandoned shotgun and Ymir could practically hear Connie getting his hopes up as she sauntered away. 

Ymir found Reiner easily, he had the same shining eyes as the other day, watching Krista longingly. 

Ymir clapped him on his large shoulder as she approached, stealing the seat next to him. She felt Mikasa’s eyes on her as she did so, and smiled to herself as she thought of how mad they all must be getting that trash like herself had crashed the party.

Ymir felt the itch to make a comment on it, but Mikasa could probably kick her ass and she didn’t really feel like having the happen today. 

Eren wasn’t even sitting with his girlfriend, instead, he was talking to another small blonde. Armin, maybe. Ymir wasn’t sure what his name actually was.

Reiner had left a seat between himself and Krista which Mikasa had taken the liberty to place her feet on the back of, putting an unappreciated stop to any hope of physical contact. 

That didn’t stop Reiner from staring though. Krista caught his eyes a few times, giving a courteous smile in return. Ymir watches the same thing happen for a while before she finally snaps. 

With another hit to Reiner’s shoulder, Ymir shout-whispered, “What the fuck you think you doing, ya clod? Stop sitting there like a candy-ass and make a move!”  
Reiner looked down angrily at her, “Shut-up Ymir, she’ll hear you!” 

He stopped for a second to collect himself, then, lowering his voice, “I’m trying to be a little politer this time, ya know? It’s all part of the plan.”

Ymir gave another slap, “You dumb shit! You ain’t gonna get anywhere by giving her soppy looks. She’s taken, she’s rich and she’s a real looker too. It’s a recipe for disaster and I wanna get my money’s worth of entertainment tonight, so grow a pair and use your words, big boy!”

Ymir’s little speech filled Reiner’s head, and somehow, it inspired him. Ymir watched her big friend take in a breath, crack his neck and lick his lips before finally turning back around to face Krista.

The girl was watching the screen intently. Her huge blue eyes filled with anticipation as she watched the man in the film aim his gun. She had her pale hands bunched up in her dark blue skirt. 

She jumped a little when Reiner cleared his throat. Ymir watched with excitement, desperately trying not to laugh at the way Reiner froze under Krista’s wide-eyed gaze. 

“Krista,” Reiner dragged out the last syllable, gathering his confidence, “Wanna come with me and get a coke? Or a sprite, even?” He grinned, raising an eyebrow in question.

This caught Mikasa’s attention, training her eyes on Reiner like a lion would watch a lonely gazelle. She looked ready to kill.

Ymir leant forward placing her head in her hands. Krista’s eyes flickered over her for a moment and then looked back at Reiner. She ignored Mikasa. 

“Sure thing!” She gave a smile and Ymir felt Reiner tense up from excitement next to her. 

Ymir couldn’t believe it worked. She even felt a little proud. She only hoped Reiner wouldn’t ruin it with a grope or something. Actually, that was a total lie, she definitely hoped that would happen.

They stood to leave, Reiner offered Krista his arm which she politely denied. Ymir didn’t even bother holding in a snort. 

Mikasa rose from her seat too, ready to protest. Ymir turned to her, “Don’t worry, I’ll go too, yeah? He won’t go causing her no trouble.”

“Does your friend know she’s got a boyfriend?” Mikasa kept her voice low and steady. 

Eren finally looked over at his mention, “Krista?”

“It’s fine Eren, I’m just getting a drink. You want one?” Krista tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

Eren shakes his head, “Ok, uh, no thanks.”

Ymir lets Reiner and Krista walk in front of her, lingering back for a second to watch a frustrated Mikasa make her way over to a confused Eren. 

The chick needs to chill out, Ymir thought. Smoke some weed or something.

Krista kept polite conversation with an excited Reiner who was growing more confident by the second. He puffed up his chest and kept a flirty grin plastered on his face.

Krista skilfully avoided his advances, not making eye contact and keeping her answers short. Ymir is disappointed, to say the least. She wanted the little blonde to flip out and slap her love-struck friend across the face or something. 

Reiner says he’ll buy the drinks, Krista says she’d like a coke and Ymir says the same. Reiner nods and jumps into line. 

There were a few people waiting to be served so it’d probably take a few minutes at least. Ymir stood next to Krista, not really knowing what to say.

Krista turned her head to look at Ymir. “Hi,” was all she said.

Ymir looked down at the girl. She was faced with a giant pair of pretty blue eyes. Ymir felt a jolt of electricity pass through her. She started to realise how it was possible that Krista had turned Reiner into honey in her hands. Those eyes could control nations.

“Uh, hiya.” Ymir mentally slapped herself. Rich. Sina. Girl. Out of bounds. Unavailable. 

Krista gave a small smile, reaching her hand out, waiting for Ymir to shake it in greeting. 

“I’m Krista! Do you know Eren?”

Ymir took the hand, giving it a small shake, “Uh nah, not really actually. Different crowd, you know.”

Krista nodded, digesting the information. She paused for a second, Ymir took a breath preparing herself to say something to prevent an awkward moment. 

She opened her mouth to speak but Krista spoke first, “I like your hair.”

Ymir kept her mouth open. Her hair? Subconsciously she reached up to run a hand through her locks. 

“It frames your face nicely and it’s uh, it’s unique.” Krista nodded as she spoke as if she was agreeing with herself.

“Thanks, I mean, I’m pretty sure I forgot to brush it this morning.” Ymir huffed, having little to no experience in receiving compliments.

Krista laughed outright at this and Ymir felt her cheeks warm, though not in an unpleasant way.

Krista looked so happy when she was laughing, flashing her pearly whites. Ymir felt a tingle of guilt for giving Reiner so much shit about his pining. She’d never let him in on that fact though.

“So, uh, Sina huh?” Ymir asked, hoping that hearing Blondie talk about her great big white house would bring her back to reality. 

“Yeah,” Krista looked down again, fiddling with her white jumper, “I don’t miss it though. It’s been really cool living with Mikasa and Eren.”

Ymir raised an eyebrow at the mention of Eren, “Jaeger aye?” 

Krista bit her lip and Ymir had to pinch herself really hard. 

“Hah, yeah. We’ve been dating for a while now, so it’s good to see him all the time now.”

Ymir narrowed her eyes, leaning in cheekily, “Must be good living in the same house. Being so close to each other and all…” Ymir lowered her voice on the last part, making her implications clear.

Krista met Ymir’s eyes with challenge, “Yes. It truly is.” Her voice was steady and had lowered to match Ymir’s.

Ymir was taken aback by the girl’s boldness. She raised her eyebrows, sucking on her teeth as she nodded.

Krista looked proud of herself for sticking her ground. 

Reiner finished up getting the drinks quickly and passed one to Krista and kept the other for himself.

Ymir threw her hands up in annoyance. “I asked for a coke too, ya massive dip!”

“Oh fuck off, I forgot! Get over it already” 

Ymir’s small amount of patience for Reiner had run out. She pointed a finger to his chest with malice, “Don’t swear in front of Krista, you shitty asshole!” 

The man working the concession stand shushed them with a glare. 

Krista looked worried when the pair turned back around. The anger drained from Ymir in a way that scared the lanky brunette. 

“You can share some of mine if you really want,” Krista offered hurriedly. 

Ymir felt her mouth open to speak, but she wasn’t sure how to respond.

Reiner rushed to reply for her, “She isn’t actually bothered, she just likes yelling at me.”

Krista giggled at that and as they start walking back, Ymir feels a weird rush of jealousy. On an impulse, she leans down to Krista’s ear whispering to her, “He secretly loves it. He likes ‘em feisty.”

Krista whips her head around, blonde hair flying. She breaks out into a laugh, the giggle from before paled in comparison.

Reiner watches her laugh blissfully, not seeming to give a thought to reason why Krista was laughing. Ymir snorted, wishing he knew what had made his dream girl crack up.

She’d let him in on it next time he was on a stupid Krista-high.

Their return had Eren rising from his seat with a sheepish grin aimed at the blonde girl. He wrapped an arm around her and said something quietly in her ear.

Ymir rolled her eyes when Krista looked up at him, fixing a sappy look on his dumb face. Of course, now Jaeger decides to act like a good boyfriend.

A satisfied looking Mikasa watching from her seat gave Ymir the impression that his bad-timing had something to do with his sister.

Eren had the straw of Krista’s cola in his mouth and something about that irked Ymir. 

Eren guided Krista to his car, apparently deciding that the lawn chairs were no longer appropriate. Ymir had the feeling that straws weren’t the only things about to get sucked.

She treated herself to that mental image, imagining Eren out of the picture, focusing instead on the pretty little blonde.

Reiner seemed to be thinking the same sort of thing, judging by the look in his eyes when Ymir looked over.

“Let’s go,” Reiner said in a gruff voice.

Ymir nodded in reply, turning to trudge back to the car and the two she’d abandoned beforehand. 

She stole one last look at Krista, who was climbing into Eren’s car. For a split-second, Ymir caught the blonde’s eye.

For a fleeting moment, Ymir felt a sense of achievement. The night hadn’t been a massive flop after all. True, no drinks had been thrown and no fights broke out either, but the rich Sina girl let her stupid blonde friend buy her a drink and stayed cool when Ymir teased her.

Blondie should still go back to where she came from no question, but she was possibly a little more interesting than Ymir had anticipated. 

The night air swirled around the tall brunette as she finally returned to Connie’s brother’s car. The movie was ending, the protagonist riding off into the sunset, a dramatic country song picking up in the background. 

Ymir pulled into the back seat with no acknowledgement from either of the other two people in the car. Connie was asleep on Sasha’s shoulder, the girl shoving popcorn into her mouth, enthralled by the scenes playing out in front of her eyes. 

Ymir wondered briefly how the whole Connie asleep on the shoulder thing came to be, but to quite frank, she didn’t really care. She did care, however, about the face Connie would make when he realised that’s what happened.

It made Ymir really wish she owned a camera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hoped you guys liked this one!!!!! It was fun to write!! In other news, I love my Reiner. I reallllly hope you guys like him too (even tho he's kinda OOC but ANYWHO.) Next chap will be Eren and FINALLY we will get some EreRi,,, I've been itching to write some Levi dialogue sooooo yay!!! Leave ur thoughts below and give some kudos cause it lights up my life :)))))))) Also tell me if you see any typos or grammar errors or whatever, I barely have enough writing time let alone editing time (I hate school sm). LOTS OF LOVE XX


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoooooooo chapter 4!! It's an Eren chapter! This took a little longer to get done than I would've hoped, but that's ok because its ready now!! I hope you like it!! Thanks to the people who have read, commented, left kudos etc,,, it makes me happy beyond belief!! Read on xoxoxoox

Chapter 4

Eren has been trying to avoid Mikasa for days now. He’d surrounded himself with his classmates all Friday at school and spent way too long getting milkshakes with Historia and Marco after school. He’d spent his entire Saturday hiding from her too. He’d gotten up early to go shopping with his mother. _Grocery_ shopping. He helped Armin study. _Study_.

He cleaned his car twice.

His efforts weren’t in vain though. It wasn’t until one fateful Sunday morning when Mikasa finally cornered him. The fire in her eyes had dulled since Thursday night, so Eren knew he wouldn’t get the full extent of the punishment he’d been anticipating.

Mikasa walks over to his bed. Eren shut the comic book he was reading to look her in the face.

“Eren we need to have a talk,” her voice is steady and collected.

Eren continued to hold the eye contact, “I know.”

“You’ve been dreading this, haven’t you?”

Eren shifted uncomfortably, “I just… hate it when you treat me like a kid who needs a talking to!”

Mikasa narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t hurt. “You’ve been using that card with me since forever. I’m your big sister, it’s what I’m here for.”

Eren looked mortified, “Only by a month! Shut up!”

Mikasa rolled her eyes, “Irrelevant. This is about Krista, okay.”

Eren knew it was coming, but it still made him stiffen up. He knew he hadn’t been a very good boyfriend. He had done exactly what Mikasa had told him not to.

“That thick-headed blonde was hitting on your girlfriend, and you just sat there talking to Armin. Do you even want to be with Krista?”

Eren blinked, “Of course! Gosh Mikasa, I- I, of course!” Eren backed up a little on the bed. Did it really look that way or was Mikasa just trying to pull a reaction from him?

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry, I just want you to start acting like it then. You let another guy buy her a coke! You can’t do that, let alone a guy like Reiner. He could’ve done really terrible things to hurt her, you know that right?”

Eren felt a wave of guilt run over him. He did know that now, but he had trusted Historia to be able to read a situation, she wouldn’t have said gone with him if she thought it was dodgy.

Well, Historia wouldn’t have gone, but Krista? The thought seemed to swallow him whole, it was a scary thought. Historia had seemed to adopt a new persona the week she’d been here. She had been nothing but sweet and compliant. Historia could hold her own, but could Krista? Would Krista?

“Yeah, I do.” Eren’s reply was small, his eyes downcast as he turned the thoughts over in his head. “I guess I just thought because a girl was going with them, nothing would happen.”

Mikasa shook her head at him, “Ymir is no better than Reiner.”

Eren looked up again, “Whadda ya mean?” Reiner didn’t really seem like the type of guy that needed an accomplice. Ymir, he thinks that was what Mikasa called her, was really skinny. What could’ve she had done?

“Eren… Ymir wants the exact same thing that Reiner does. If she wasn’t a tight-ass hood girl she’d be buying Krista as many colas as she could.”

Eren furrowed his brows, confused by what Mikasa was saying. “But Ymir is a girl, right?”

Mikasa put her hand to face, “Yes Eren. For Pete sakes! If Armin can kiss a boy then Ymir can kiss a girl and Krista is a pretty girl. You really didn’t think of that?”

Eren looked up in shock, “Armin kissed a boy!?”

“Yes of course! It’s 1967, not 1914!”

Eren took a moment to let that wash over him, he didn’t even know that was a possibility! The new information swirled around in his head. “Wait… but Krista wouldn’t kiss a girl!”

“I don’t think Ymir cares about that,” Mikasa explained, looking him dead on.

His sister had well and truly got her point across, Eren felt a little stupid for being so clueless. He wished he was big and strong like that Reiner boy, so people wouldn’t flock at Historia like they did.

“She asked me for her name,” Mikasa told Eren, “After we got home.”

He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of that. “I’ll be a better boyfriend.”

“I know you will,” Mikasa smiled at him, “You should take her out, yeah? There’s this mint restaurant in town! Jean was talking about it the other day.”

Eren raised an eyebrow. He guesses it wouldn’t be a bad idea. “Tonight?”

“Why not,” Mikasa rose from her spot on the bed, “Go tell her!”

Historia reacted well to the idea. She thanked Eren with a hug, which Eren returned. He was happy she was happy.

Their reservation was for 7.30. Eren phoned Jean to get the address, it was about a ten-minute drive into town.

The girls had shut themselves into the guest room where Historia was staying. Eren could hear music playing softly from his lazy spot on the couch. Every once in a while, giggles would erupt from behind the door. Eren figured Mikasa was helping Historia get ready.

When the pair were little they used to play ‘princesses’. They would shut Eren out of the room, put on party dresses and steal Mrs Reiss’s lipstick. It was a fond memory. They’d make Historia’s older brother ‘escort’ them out of the bedroom and present them to Eren.

Eren had to be Prince Charming and dance with the girls. Their parents thought it was adorable, but Eren would always get embarrassed and refuse to participate. Eren let a tiny smile tug at his lips. He wondered if Mikasa and Historia were remembering the same thing.

It was quarter past 7 when Eren finally reached his breaking point, his patience running out no slower than it normally did.

He flounced over to the door, raising a fist to knock loudly. The door opened as soon has his hand make contact. Mikasa walked out first, nudging past him to make way for Historia.

She was wearing a white dress with a blue-ribbon tie around the waist. It flowed out around her legs, stopping halfway down her calf. Her cheeks were dusted with pink, her already long eyelashes accentuated.

“Well Eren, say something!” Mikasa urged.

Eren smiled at his girlfriend, “You look really pretty, Krista.”

Historia returned the smile, tentatively reaching out for his hand. Eren let her latch on, leading her out to the car.

He was all too ready to get going, his impatience was mixing with a need for food and he was worried if he didn’t get something to munch on quickly he might start throwing a tantrum like an insolent child.

Though, of course, his mother insisted on taking a photograph. She fussed over Historia for a bit before finally letting them go.

Eren is glad he made this decision, with Mikasa’s prompting of course. Historia and Eren hadn’t had any alone time really since she’d arrived here. They weren’t the most lovey-dovey couple, but that didn’t mean Eren loved her any less. He liked spending time with her. He had liked spending time with her ever since they were little toddlers, playing in the sand.

The restaurant was really nice, Jean wasn’t kidding. He had informed Eren over the phone that ‘the joint’ was ‘totally rip-city’, and although Eren had a little bit of trouble actually translating that, he got the gist and definitely agreed.

The lights were dimmed slightly, the place bursting with people, all dressed up nice. Music filled the place, Eren recognised the tune. It was pretty classy for something that Jean recommended, though he could be rather suave when he wanted to be.

Historia looked content, thanking the waiter who showed them to their seat. Her face was illuminated by the yellow overhead lights and as she poured over the menu, she looked really pretty. Soft and young.

Once they ordered their food, the conversation struck up. It was a little stiff at first, but soon enough they were talking like normal. Their interactions were easy-going, but there was something itching at Eren’s mind.

Historia’s laughter never truly reached her eyes, like she was holding back at something. She said all the right things, she listened to Eren’s jokes but never made any of her own. The itch grew into somewhat of a discomfort, an anger almost. Not directed at Historia, but just in general.

Eren knew she noticed, but she never commented. He couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“What’s wrong?”

Historia looked up, startled. She sat up straighter, a concerned look on her face. “What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not!” Eren took a deep breath, recomposing himself. “I mean, you seem uncomfortable. Uh- what’s up Krista?”

Eren tried to sound gentle, cursing his impulsiveness for his outburst.

Historia moved a piece of hair behind her ear, a habit she’d picked up when she was young. She tended to do it when she was thinking.

“I appreciate your concern Eren, I really do. Everything’s alright.” She smiled reassuringly, blue eyes meeting Eren’s as she spoke.

Eren struggled to keep his calm, those responses weren’t what he wanted to hear! Historia wasn’t being Historia! She was acting like Krista, even when she was alone with Eren. How could she think he’d just brush it off? It occurred to him that perhaps she was being so reserved because he wasn’t acting like he should. All the things Mikasa had spoken about, maybe she wasn’t just being overprotective. Maybe she knew how it was affecting Historia.

It seemed logical, Mikasa was smart, she knew the things to say to get ideas into Eren’s head. “Did someone do something you didn’t like?”

Historia shook her head, “No.”

Eren wasn’t convinced. “Was it that Reiner guy?”

Historia opened her mouth to reply but a memory from his conversation with Mikasa popped into his head, “Or that girl. Ymir?”

Historia widened her eyes, “No! No, um they were nice to me. Ymir was really… nice to me.”

Eren raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure?”

Historia nodded, giving Eren a tight-lipped smile. Eren still wasn’t happy. His conversation with Mikasa entered his mind for a second time. He jerked his hand up off the table, reaching out for Historia’s. Good boyfriends did comforting things like that, right?

“Well, just know I’m always here. If there’s anything you need to talk about, I’ll listen. I’m going to start looking out for you some more, it’s not fair that you have to put up with all these guys annoying you,” Eren watched Historia’s expression carefully, “Oh, and girls. Annoying you I mean.”

Historia cocked her head to the side, breaking out into a smile. Eren was familiar with that smile, it filled him with pride. That wasn’t a fake smile.

“I’m used to boys looking at me, it’s sweet you care so much Eren. Don’t worry about all that” Historia gave his hand a little squeeze and let go.

Eren nodded, feeling confident, “As your boyfriend, starting now no boys are going to get away with looking at you! It’s my mission!”

Historia giggled, “Sure thing, Eren.”

Her voice was slightly pitched, but Eren didn’t dwell on it. He liked having a goal. He liked making Historia grin. He made a mental note to thank Mikasa when he got home, sometimes having a strict sister was a blessing.

The rest of the dinner was nice. The rest of the conversation was light, Eren did most of the talking.

They ordered banana splits for dessert, much to Eren’s childish delight. They trotted out of the restaurant after paying, Eren almost forgot to tip their waiter in his typical hurry.

It was dark when they exited, the time on Eren’s watch reading 8:59. They walked quickly to the car. There was a man smoking a cigarette, standing in an open parking spot, a few places down from Eren’s parked Camaro.

Eren eyed him suspiciously. The man turned his head to look at the teens. Eren watched him take a drag and run his eyes over Historia. Eren felt the morning’s anger relight itself inside his chest.

Eren glared, trying to look as intimidating as possible. He stood up straighter and lifted his chin.

The man didn’t even blink, he blew his smoke into the air, continuing to watch Historia. Historia pretended she didn’t notice, standing awkwardly, watching the sky.

Eren wasn’t going to take this any longer, could this creep not see she was clearly taken? Eren let his anger heighten, what a perfect time to prove himself.

“Hey! Quit looking at my girl!”

The man turned his face to Eren. It was too dark make out any features, but Eren could see that the man was considerably shorter than Eren himself. It only made his confidence grow.

“Neither of us appreciate you staring like that! Stop it or I’ll make you regret it!”

There was just enough moonlight for Eren to see the man smile. Although, it was less of a smile and more of a smirk.

“Look at you, trying to be all tough, are you normally threatened by strangers stepping outside for a smoke?”

The man’s voice was low and smooth. There was something horrible about the way he was taking this so calmly. Eren watched as he stepped forward, taking another puff of the cigarette as he did.

It seemed that Historia had given up on trying to ignore the situation. Eren could hear her breathing, she touched his arm. “Eren, don’t get all worked up.”

The words barely breached his mind, but they seemed to catch the man’s attention. He considered Historia for a moment before looking back at Eren.

“Listen up, you punk! You have no right-“

“No right?” The man seemed to tense all over, it was like he was growing taller. Eren wondered how it was possible that he felt like the short man was the one looking down, not the other way around. “Don’t you dare tell me what I have the rights or don’t have the rights to do. You had no reason to lose your head.”

Eren opened his mouth to respond with fire but was cut off once again, “The way I use my eyes doesn’t concern you, refusing to use whatever brains you got up there does nothing but make you look like a brat. You’re lucky I don’t hurt you right here and now, feel privileged the worse I do is send you home with your tail between your legs.”

His deep voice stayed steady, and somehow it was a thousand time worse than if he were to yell in Eren’s face. Eren was scared, no question. He clenched his jaw, willing himself not to tremble. He had his pride, he wasn’t going to lose it to some tiny stranger.

The man lifted his head as the cloud that had been covering the moon finally cleared. Eren could finally see clearly. The man had inky black hair, it was a strange haircut. His features strong and unforgiving. Eren didn’t even mean to meet his eyes when he did.

He feels his throat constrict, tears threaten to show. He knew those eyes. He knew those eyes. Those steely, gleaming eyes. Eren moves backwards in shock, he hears Historia yelp and step out of the way. He barely registers her moving in front of him.

Eren felt shaken to the core, those eyes were so much scarier up close. The man he had once dubbed ‘Shorty’ stood in front of him, the only thing separating Eren from that intimidating gaze the blonde head of his girlfriend.

Eren shook his head, refocusing on the situation at hand. He grabbed Historia’s hand, tugging her gently backwards. ‘Shorty’ stood, still smoking his cigarette. He looked amused.

Eren mumbled something about leaving, closing the car door behind Historia before quickly stepping into the driver’s side.

Thoughts swirled around in Eren’s head. What the heck just happened? The same guy from the park, what sort of messed up coincidence was that? The town wasn’t huge, but twice in the same week?

No. It mustn’t be. What do people say? The first time an accident, second time a coincidence, third time a pattern. Eren prayed to the heavens there wouldn’t be a third time. Perhaps he was seeing things, the chill he’d felt the first time he’d seen eyes like that must still be hidden inside him. When faced with an intimidating situation, his mind replaced the man’s possibly perfectly normal brown eyes with piercing greys.

Like seeing water in the desert, except this time, it was like seeing a brutal sandstorm where there wasn’t one.

No one spoke for a while. Eventually, Historia starts talking. Eren doesn’t really hear. It wasn’t the normal the Historia speaking. The progress that had been made was gone. It was Krista who sat next to him, thanking him for sticking up for her. The voice was sickly sweet. It was Krista who had foolishly stepped in front of Eren, moments before. It was Krista who had tugged at his arm, speaking so softly, failing to even draw his attention. 

Eren felt so exasperated. He didn’t let his mind rest until his head hit the pillow.

 

-+-

 

The only thing scarier than those grey eyes from the restaurant would have to be Mikasa if ever she found out about the incident. Eren vowed to never speak a word of it to her, not after she’d finally calmed down about Thursday. As they had pulled up to the house the night before, Eren had quietly begged Historia not to tell his sister. She had promised not to, but Eren still didn’t feel safe.

After having a night and day of normal things to distract himself, Eren was beginning to feel embarrassed about the way he’d reacted. Nobody had been hurt, all it had been was a childish tiff in a parking lot. Eren pushed his scaredy-cat behaviours to the back of his mind and carried on with his day.

It was the last period for the day, and he is in class with Jean. Jean is busing himself with shooting spitballs onto the ceiling. Eren didn’t have many other friends in this class. Armin had advanced math with Mikasa right now, Historia had economics and Marco had drama. Marco wanted to be an actor.

The girl from the drive-in is in this class, Ymir was her name, right? She is sitting next to a small angry blonde girl Eren knew to be Annie. Everyone knew Annie.

Eren watched Ymir. She had freckles decorating her tanned skin. Her eyes small and her lips thin. She is currently leaning across her desk, copying work off of a guy with glasses. Eren watches with amusement as the teacher, Mr Zackly, whacks his ruler against her desk.

She jumps, following up with a pointed glare.

“What are you doing staring at other girls, Eren?” Jean teases, poking his finger into Eren’s shoulder.

“I’m not!” Eren whips around to glare at Jean.

“Sure, sure.”

“I wasn’t, loser. Why would I?”

Jean shrugs, waggling his stupid eyebrows. He proceeds to blow another spitball, this time at the back of the freckled girls head.

Ymir turns slowly around to stare darkly at Jean, who wastes no time blaming the attack on Eren. The girl narrows her eyes.

“You wanna damn die today?” She points a finger at Eren, hunching her shoulders and sticking her neck out. Her voice is loud and boisterous, not bothering to try and hide her blatant annoyance.

“It wasn’t me! It was Jean, honest!”

“Sure thing, it was neither of ya. Magical fairy spat at me, didn’t it?”  The class watches in excitement as Ymir rises from her chair. Mr Zackly interrupts before anything else can happen. Someone boos in the background. 

Jean chuckles, pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes. “Good stuff, Eren. Good stuff.”

“You’re such an idiot! What’s wrong with your head?!”

“Nothing at all! I got her to look over, didn’t I? Though I do know what’s wrong with your head,” Jean grins at Eren.

“And what would that be?”

“That god-awful haircut for one!”

“ _My_ god-awful hair!? God, you’re one to talk.”

Jean continued laughing obnoxiously, before realising what Eren had said, raising his hand to his hair. A mask of hurt and self-consciousness covering his face.

Now it was Eren’s turn to laugh. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!!! We finally got some actual Levi!! We'll be seeing more of him soon :)) Eren is having a bit of a crisis currently (poor baby) but he'll get better soon! The next chap will be Ymir (yay) and we'll hopefully see some major advancements in terms of the little Yumikuri thing going on ;)  
> Leave kudos and comments if you'd like because it MAKES ME SO HAPPY AND MOTIVATES ME XOXOOXO Thanks for reading!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop Whoop!! Finally!!! Studying you can go get absolutely fucked!!! It's a Ymir chap :)))) This is actually only half of what I wanted to get done for this chapter and yet it's still the longest one so far! That's not really saying much but oh well, I'm still happy about that. So much love and thanks to everyone who has read, left kudos or comments or enjoyed this fic, it makes me indescribably happy. I hope you guys like this chapter,,,, so without further ado: Chapter 5 XOXOXO

** Chapter 5 **

Ymir is annoyed. Word was that Shadis had received a talking to at the recent staff meeting because the rest of the teachers were done with picking up his slack. By that of course, they meant having to give up their free time to round up slackers like Ymir and her gang as they roamed like animals around the school when Mr Shadis forgot about them.

This meant Ymir had to get changed into her PE gear and actually participate in order to minimise yelling from the grumpy ‘educator’. She forgot she even owned the gym uniform. She had to burrow down into the very depths of her closet this morning. She hadn’t worn the damn thing for at the very least 6 months. She wasn’t sure it even fit her anymore.

The change room was almost empty when she finally entered, late of course. She was struck with the pleasant realisation that Blondie was in this class. The possibility of seeing the girl in various stages of undress made being in the changes rooms much more appealing.

Krista was standing by the bag hooks, buttoning up her shirt. She didn’t notice Ymir at first, concentrating instead on the buttons by her chest.

Ymir made a scene of sitting herself hard down on the wooden benches lining the room. Krista looked up at that, finally noticing Ymir’s presence.

Ymir didn’t look at her, instead, throwing off her shirt. She kept her white singlet on as she struggled out of her pants. Krista still hasn’t said anything.

“It’s rude to stare,” Ymir smirked.

Krista’s cheeks flushed a little, and Ymir raised an eyebrow, waiting for a reply.

“I didn’t realise you were in this class, Ymir.”

“I don’t usually show, but Shadis has decided to try his hand at actually teaching and I’m not in the mood to hear him shout at me more than necessary this particular afternoon.”

Krista giggled, “It’s not so bad, you just gotta keep on his good side! He never gives me any trouble.”

Ymir moves on to tie her shoes, laughing outright at Krista’s words. “I’ve been on his bad side since freshman year, that ship sailed a real while back, yeah? Also, the playing field ain’t exactly level when it comes to you and me. You’re a little blonde who’s going ‘round with his almost star player, Shadis is a creep, and I’m a greasy troublemaker.”

Krista looks up with those huge eyes, “Maybe you could try being a little sweeter?”

The suggestion would’ve normally seemed offensive, but something about Krista’s delivery made it hard for Ymir to angry. Krista’s eyes had a calming effect on her.  “What do you mean?”

“Well you know,” Krista started, “Just try to suck up a little bit! Most teachers absorb it like a sponge!”

“That only works if you’re cute.”  Ymir finished lacing her shoes but she didn’t stand. Neither did Krista.

“You could be cute.”

Ymir raised an eyebrow, letting out a breathy laugh, “Alright, sure thing yeah?” Ymir leant down so she was closer to the girl. “I think it’ll be best if I just stick close to ya. That way Shadis will focus on you and not me.”

Krista grinned, “Ok then.”

It was gross the way Shadis picked favourites. Krista and Ymir walked in side-by-side, both equally as late to the gym class.

The PE teacher glowered at Ymir, demanding an excuse, pausing only to run his eyes up and down Krista’s small body.

Ymir met his sunken eyes with nonchalance, knowing that would piss the man off. “Krista got lost, Sir. I was simply helping her find her way.”

The man lifted his chin, still looking down at Ymir. He turned his head to regard the small blonde as well.

“Miss Lenz, is this true?”

“Yes, Sir,” Krista spoke with a pretty voice, sure of herself and pure. She nodded her head, keeping eye contact with the teacher as she did so. Ymir understood what the girl had meant about ‘sucking up’ now. Shadis was honey in Blondie’s hands.

“I apologise, Krista. Please never hesitate to ask for help if you are lost, teacher or student. I’m sure they’ll provide you with directions you need. I also apologise that it was this particular student,” he paused to glance at Ymir with reproach, “that you ran into. Any other would’ve worked much harder to pretend tardiness.”

Ymir glared, lowering her voice, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She readied herself to argue further, but a soft kick to the legs stopped her. A shock sped up her spin. Ymir remembered Krista’s ‘advice’ in the change room and sighed heavily.

Begrudgingly, she lowered her arms back down to her sides. “I’m terribly sorry about my lateness, Sir.” She spat the apology out from behind gritted teeth. Ymir clenches her fists as tight as she can as she forces her lips into a smile.

She could feel Krista glowing with accomplishment beside her. That just made Ymir feel even madder.

Ymir conjured up the biggest eye roll she could muster when they were finally allowed to leave and go start warming up. “I feel disgusting.”

“But you did it! You were sweet!” Krista patted Ymir’s elbow encouragingly. Ymir briefly forgot her anger and let the warmth from Krista’s touch spread across her body. She appreciated the way the blonde’s gym uniform was still way too small.

Ymir turned her head to make a sarcastic reply, but instead of being met with pretty blue eyes, she is met with angry green ones. Jaeger. Fucking wonderful.

“Krista doesn’t want to be talked to right now! She’s my girlfriend.”

Ymir blinked. What a weirdo. “No wonder she don’t wanna be talked to, ya shitface! She’s got you for a boyfriend! You run your mouth so much she probably has a permanent headache!”

Eren’s face turns red, he looks ready to blow a fuse. “Oh yeah!?”

Ymir watches Krista place her hand on his forearm. She catches his attention, talking him down. Ymir feels jealousy build up inside her. She wants Krista to her hand on Ymir’s forearm. She wants Krista to speak soothingly to her. She wants to touch Krista’s boobs.

Eren is so annoying! He’s a spoilt brat with anger issues. He blew a spitball at the back of Ymir’s head for god sakes. She wasn’t forgetting that anytime soon.

The boys and girls were split up as always, so Eren’s little bitch fest with Krista was broken up quickly. Ymir walked with Sasha, they were supposed to be jogging around the oval but the sun was shining down heavy on their backs, so that idea could go die.

Sasha snuck potato chips into her mouth as they did laps. Krista was up ahead with another girl. Ymir didn’t know her name. Eren was up for bat, Ymir watched with spite. He missed the ball and cursed at the ground. Ymir snorted loudly.

She caught sight of Connie sniggering at Eren’s failure too, he was fielding off to the side. Connie’s shaved head was exposed to the sun, Ymir would take pleasure in teasing him about his red scalp tomorrow.

Krista had stopped in her place, applauding her boyfriend when he finally hit the ball. He got to third base. Ymir watched. Krista’s blonde hair was dishevelled from running. Her cheeks were red and her blue eyes shining. Krista hadn’t said anything to Ymir since Eren spoke to her.

Ymir wasn’t aware that having a boyfriend meant you weren’t allowed to make friends, but she supposed she was wrong. Of course, what Ymir wanted with Krista wasn’t exactly what one would dub ‘friendship’, but Eren seemed a little too thick-headed to entertain that possibility.

He probably just didn’t want Krista hanging out with juvenile delinquents like Ymir. It hadn’t seemed to bother Krista that Ymir was a bit rough around edges. That was what infuriated her most though. Krista didn’t care. She didn’t run away when Reiner tried chatting her up, she wasn’t scared when Ymir leant in, teasing her and saying stupid things.

If Krista didn’t care then why did Eren? Well, Eren was a bad example. He was hot-headed and possessive. But what about Mikasa? She had reacted sceptically at the drive-in. She wasn’t stupid.

It occurred to Ymir that maybe it wasn’t Eren or Mikasa who were stupid. Maybe Krista was just… naive. Maybe instead of being confident and open-minded, Krista simply only saw the good in people. It wasn’t such a radical suggestion. It was quite possible. Although, it wasn’t an idea that Ymir liked. Something about Krista excited her. That wasn’t good. Krista should go back where she came from, but Ymir wanted answers first.

“What’s with that sour face Freckles?” Sasha managed through a mouthful of salt and vinegar.

“That’s my normal face dummy,” Ymir pulled on Sasha’s ponytail, “Gimme a chip, potato girl.”

Sasha stuck her tongue out, “No way José!”

Sasha had decided to come over after school. No explanation, Ymir didn’t have a chance to argue.

Yvonne’s boyfriend Mike was at the house too. Yvonne was sitting in his lap. Ymir’s home was full as could be, complete with a gurgling baby and a busy mother. Ymir and Sasha sat on the floor, half-heartedly playing a board game as the radio played.

Mike was watching the girls play, much more invested in the game of monopoly than they were. Mike was a nice guy, he was tall and burly, yet quiet and smart. He had a weird thing where his sense of smell was heightened. Kind of like a dog. He had inadvertently sniffed Ymir when they first met.

Yvonne loved him lots, and so did their mother. He could reach the highest shelf in pantry really easily.

The pair got bored of the game after about half an hour. The board was discarded, and the girls involved themselves in Yvonne and Mike’s conversation instead.

Yvonne was complaining about work again, her head now in Mike’s lap. Mike had his fingers twirled through her hair. Ymir noted the way in Yvonne was kindly not flipping the ever-loving fuck out like she normally would if someone touched her hair.

Sasha contributed to the conversation with gusto, adding in complaints about school and how boring it was. Ymir supplied a grunt of agreement from her spot on the floor.

“You just gotta find ways to entertain yourself.” Mike advised, “Have fun outside of school and stuff.”

Yvonne nodded encouragingly from his lap, “Totally right, yeah? Friday nights in high school were super!”

Sasha placed her head in her hand, “Well then Yvonne. What’s a girl got to do on a Friday night ‘round here?”

Yvonne hummed, racking her brain. “Hanji does her thing on Fridays, don’t she?” Mike supplied.

“Yeah!” Yvonne’s eyes lit up, “We could totally bring you guys to this little party thing we go to! Mike’s friends hold it, quite a few people go. It’s not too wild but there’s always dancing and drinks. It’s quite well known, yeah? It’ll be fine if we brought a few of ya. People bring siblings sometimes, Hanji won’t care.”

Sasha looks excitedly at Ymir, “We have to! Come on Ymir!”

Ymir shrugged, “Whatever.”

Sasha cheered, “I’m excited! We should bring Connie.”

Ymir nodded, “Well, yeah. Duh”

“But don’t go embarrassing me, ya hear?” Yvonne scolded, sitting up off of Mike, “And I ain’t bringing more than 5 of ya, Mike’s car won’t fit you all otherwise.”

“Sir, yes Sir.” Sasha fakes a salute. Ymir snorts.

Sasha gets way too excited about unimportant things, and nothing gets her going like choc-chip cookies, affordable shoes and, unfortunately for Ymir, parties.

Ymir makes her swear she won’t blab about it to Reiner. Reiner would just want to come and be annoying.

Ymir had heard about these ‘parties’ before and she knew they weren’t really anything special, but Sasha wouldn’t have it. Connie said he was down to come, which was no surprise seeing as it was Sasha who asked him.

School dragged on, Ymir traded Annie a reel of 50 arcade tickets for a pack of cigarettes, Sasha stole some sunglasses and all was right with the world.

It was a seemingly normal Wednesday lunch break when Krista appeared out of nowhere. Ymir was contently laying the grass. Sasha and Connie were spraying passers-by with a broken drink fountain, crying with laughter like the pair of nuisances they were.

Krista looked really happy, she was walking with another girl Ymir didn’t recognise. She caught site of Ymir as she passed by. She waved excitedly, practically buzzing on the spot. Ymir raised her hand in greeting, sceptical but not unwelcoming.

“Ymir! How are you?” She sounded so genuinely interested it almost hurt to listen.

The other girl who had accompanied Krista had a grin on her face too, she followed tentatively. Ymir shot her a weird look and the grin faded. Krista seems unfazed by this, however, plopping herself down next to Ymir.

“… I’m alright. You seem way too happy Blondie, what’s happening?” Ymir was a little weirded out by Krista’s antics, she wasn’t sure why she was speaking to Ymir to start with, let alone with such gusto.

“I had an amazing Home Eco class! We made apple turnovers!”

Krista’s hair was blowing softly in the wind, a smile plastered on her face. She looked brilliantly alive, it was suffocating. “Got any for me?” Ymir played along, not entirely sure why apple turnovers meant infinite happiness, but she’d take it.

“We ate them all!” Krista gestured to her friend who was still keeping her distance, “I think I’m on a bit of a sugar high!” Krista’s giggles bubble up and fill the air, and Ymir continues to stare blankly up at her.

“You don’t say?”

Krista laughs again, louder this time. “You know Ymir, you always make me laugh!”

“I only met ‘cha last week, I don’t think that counts as an ‘always’.” Ymir scoffs, ignoring the warmth spreading to her cheeks.

Krista cocks her head to the side, seeming to sober up a little in thought, “Well, it’s the always of the time I’ve known you if that makes sense. It’d be cool if it was a longer always, it’s good to laugh.”

Ymir feels something dangerous swell within her chest. What the actual hell was wrong with this chick? Who says poetry stuff like that? Why did she have to be so angelic?

“Ymir are you ok?” Krista sounded concerned. Ymir wondered why until she realised her face had been all scrunched up like she was in pain or something. Well in her defence, Krista was a little bit painful when she was this energetic, but not the physical kind of painful. The kind of painful that squeezed your heart. Ymir didn’t like having her heart squeezed, not by the short blonde, not by nobody.

“Don’t you got Eren to make you laugh?”

A strange look crossed Krista’s face, “Well, I gotta have some girl time too. I guess.”

Ymir felt something bad rise up in her, the same kind of bad she felt when she had climbed over the fence into Connie’s angry old neighbour’s backyard to retrieve a ball, or just before she jumped off the highest branch of the big tree and broke her arm. It was a rush, and although she knew she shouldn’t do it, there was still this undeniable push to go through with it, no matter how stupid.

“We should really hang out more, Ymir. I’ve only really met people through Eren since I’ve been here. It’s fun getting to know people myself, you know?”

That was so unnecessary. Why couldn’t just wave ‘Hi’ to Ymir and bugger off like a normal person? The bad feeling wasn’t disappearing. Ymir willed herself not too, but she wasn’t it full control. “Hey, Krista?” Don’t be a dipshit, don’t be a dipshit. Krista hummed her reply. Don’t be a goddamned dipshit, you dipshit.

“You wanna go to this thing on Friday? Uh, my sister’s friends do this party thing every week, usually. It could be fun, I guess.”

Ymir mentally punched herself in the face. Oh god. Krista’s eyes shone, “Really?”

“Uh, yeah. You wanna go or not?” Ymir huffed.

“Yeah! Yeah, I’d love to. What time and all that? Uh, well I’m not exactly sure if I’d be able to- wait no. Yes, I’m going. I’m going.” Krista was fumbling, she seemed excited, but also nervous, almost. Why was she nervous? Ymir figured she wasn’t exactly the most welcoming looking person, she perhaps Krista was worried about going places after dark with her. Though, if that was the case, why didn’t she just decline the invitation?

With too many questions and not nearly the mental capacity to sort through them at this moment, Ymir grabbed for her pocket somewhat wildly, pulling out her blue pen.

“I’ll give you my phone number and the address, yeah? I’m just not sure of all the details just yet.” Ymir garbled on, her cool exterior crumbling by the second. Give Blondie her phone number? God damn, Jaeger-boy was going to throw a fit. This was stupid and reckless. She didn’t even like Krista that much!

The blonde didn’t seem to notice Ymir’s dilemma, patting herself down, looking for paper. She looked back up, fruitless, opting instead of paper to use the back of her hand. She leant it out towards Ymir, who was now sitting up.

Ymir was a little bit confused at first, but she shook her brain back to action and took the hand, writing the details in her sloppy penmanship across the soft pale skin.

Krista quickly read over words, “I’ll give you my number too, just in case I don’t get the chance to call. Mr Jaeger got me my own line fitted, so if you call it’ll ring through to my room! Isn’t that cool?”

Ymir nodded, her mind in other places. She was not only giving Krista her number but getting Krista’s in return!? What a crazy lunch break this was.

Krista reached out for Ymir’s hand. Ymir felt her heart start dancing inside of her, she had to remind herself that all that was going to happen was some writing.

Krista’s touch was so soft as she wrote in pretty, looping cursive. She pulled back, happy with herself. Ymir noted the tiny smiley face that she had added, it was so childish it was almost endearing. Ymir let out a soft snort, some could say it was an affectionate snort.

Ymir felt her stomach twist and turn within her. She felt gross. Krista’s friend was tugging on her elbow, willing her to go. Ymir grunted her goodbye. Why the hell had she done that? Why was she riding such an emotional rollercoaster? God _damn_ it, Ymir! A large part of her ached to run after Krista and scrub the writing off of her hand, to yell in her sweet little face that she didn’t want her to come, that she could go back to sipping champagne and playing croquet and praying before bedtime in her big, white house. There was so much frustration that Ymir didn’t understand. What if Blondie did show up? Would she ever want to see Ymir again? Would she be scared, grossed out? Would she go back and cry to Jaeger?

Ymir could handle Jaeger and she could handle his scary-ass sister too if she really felt like it, that is. Though the biggest question bugging her was if she would really be able to handle it if Krista rejected her. Ymir wasn’t too attached yet, but what if this furthered? For the love of our Lord and Saviour, all these stupid thoughts were making her head ache. ‘I don’t care. I don’t bloody well CARE.’ Ymir told herself over and over. She didn’t care.

With her head back on the grass, she pushed away all thinking. The last class of the day would be spent with Sasha and Connie, so hopefully, Ymir would be distracted by their idiotic behaviour instead of dwelling on her own. There were worst things in the world than what just happened. Krista was irrelevant.

 

-+-

Thursday night was when it happened. It was her mother who answered the phone. Ymir didn’t really think much of it at first, it wasn’t until her mother called her when things seemed different than Ymir had anticipated. Her mother shoved the phone into her hands, mouthing ‘two minutes’ as she did. Ymir fumbled with the phone, pressing it quickly to her ear.

“Uh- hello?” Ymir spoke through the mouthpiece.

The voice that replied shocked Ymir, it was Krista. “Ymir! Hello.”

Her voice sounded different over the phone, she spoke at a higher pitch, the way Ymir had heard her talk to teachers or Eren.

“I’ve got a time limit here Krista, what’s cracking?”

“Oh um,” Krista shifted, Ymir could hear movement, “I was just wondering what time you want me to get there, or if you’re picking me up. For Friday that is. If you still want me to come, I mean.”

Her voice trailed off slightly at the end of the last sentence in a way that pissed Ymir off. “Yeah, yeah, of course, Two seconds.” Ymir assumed Yvonne was home and called out, relaying Krista’s question out into the house.

“A friend? I didn’t know you had one of those!” Yvonne teases. After laughing at herself, she supplies Ymir with the answer.

“How’s 8.45? We’ll pick you up. I’ll need your address though.” Ymir holds her breath, would Krista not wanna give out her address? Shitty bodyguards number 1 and 2 wouldn’t be very happy about that if she did. Mikasa would probably use her magic ninja skills and knock Ymir flat to the floor. She was simply amazed they were letting Krista make this call, period. Actually, she was a little more than amazed. She was highly sceptical. There was no way Mr ‘She’s  _mine_ ’ would let Krista speak to such a low-life on the Jaeger family’s good telephone.

Well, Krista did say something about having her own telephone, right? Maybe the Terrible Two simply didn’t know. The idea was delicious the Ymir. It was hilarious, somehow. Ymir struggled to hold in a laugh as she waited for Krista’s reply.

“Yeah, that’d be neat!” Krista spoke her address for Ymir to write down, thankfully there’s a notepad on the counter that her mother used as a shopping list.

“Uh Ymir, do know what I should wear? I don’t wanna look over or under dressed, you know?” Krista sounded a little timid, but her pitched voice stayed steady nonetheless.

Ymir shook her head. What should she wear? Blondie’s got the wrong chick, that right there is a Sasha question. “Umm… Clothes?” _Or not, that’s cool too._

Krista let out a little laugh, “Ymir! You know what I mean.”

“Uh… You see Blondie, fashion just ain’t really my thing

Ymir received a stern look from her mother, who tapped her wrist, signifying that Ymir’s two minutes were up.

Ymir felt something that was almost relief, she sighed, “Sorry Krista, I got to go, Mom is staring me down. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

Ymir heard Krista start to say something but she stopped, “Ok, bye-bye.”

Ymir hung up the phone quickly.

She stares at the address she had written down. Oh boy, she’d barely even set foot in that neighbourhood. Strictly the west side of town, they might be a little late to the party if that much driving was involved. Ymir ran a hand through her short locks, taking a breath. She huffed out a laugh of disbelief. What a week. She needed a smoke or something.

Yvonne’s entry into the kitchen was anything but quiet, singing the lyrics to a popular song as badly as it was loud. She received glares from both women in the kitchen.

“Who’s the friend you’re bringing, Sis?”

“Rich blonde girl ya may ‘ave heard of.” Ymir waggled her brows. It felt strange to speak her accomplishments out loud. Yvonne gave her a look of disbelief. She sorted out the information, coming to a quick conclusion.

“Jaeger’s girl?”

Ymir nods, smirking.

“Yeah right, and I’m bringing the Queen of the United States of America. Mike knows ‘er”

“There’s no Queen of America ya clod!” Ymir stuck her chin out at her sister.

“Don’t be rude, Ymir.” Her mother chastised.

Yvonne laughs, “Serves you right for being a smartass!”

“Same goes to you, Yvonne. Shut your mouths the pair of ya!”

Yvonne’s mouth clamps shut, turning to sulk back out into the lounge.

Ymir snorts. Glorious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY!!!! Hope y'all likeddddd ♥♥. There was so much Ymir and Krista in this (and more to come too!) so I hope that was good. The next chap will be Ymir too since I have a lot more to write with her before I can go back to Eren-baby. I KNOW I MISS HIM TOO, but he'll be back before you know it ;) I wish I could get these things out faster than I do, but alas, I have responsibilities that need fulfilling. Anyway,, leave kudos n comments if you wanna XO endless loveeeeeee bbs :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helllooooo. UGhhhhh this week has been chockas so this chap took a good while to complete BUT THATS OK. It's here now so I really hope people enjoy it!! It's a Ymir chapter which was originally supposed to be a part of chapter 5 but that didn't happen so,, ya. It was fun to write!! Once again big thanks to all the lovely people who are reading this, it makes me glow like you wouldn't believe when I see people enjoying my writing XOXO. Anyways I'll let you go... lot's of loveeeeee

** Chapter 6 **

Ymir was calm. Best not to dwell on the reason for this, better to just accept it.

Once again Ymir found herself in a bedroom with Sasha, approving whether or not an outfit was acceptable or not. Once again, Ymir told Sasha her outfit looked silly over and over again until Sasha got mad.

She still hadn’t told Sasha that Krista was coming with them tonight. Ymir just wanted to minimise the amount of time she’d have to endure Sasha blasting her with questions, so her solution had been to hold out on telling her for as long as possible, Connie too.

Yvonne already knew of course and had already had her turn to laugh about it. Ymir guessed the only way to prove that she wasn’t lying was for Krista to step inside Mike’s old car, take and seat and look her stupid older sister right in the face.

After that, Yvonne probably wouldn’t care. She’d probably hit her with some questions so she could keep Hitch happy, then get over it. Sasha wouldn’t be that easy to deal with.

Said brunette was dancing around her room, having finally chosen an outfit. A tiny shift dress, checkered black and white, cut off at a dangerously short length. She wore black tights that hid her legs and tiny kitten heels. She danced clumsily, already in the mood for the night ahead. Well, she’d been in the mood for a party since the idea was served up to her, possibly even before that, so that really wasn’t saying much. She was in more of a party mood tonight than usual.

“They say candy is sweet, but it just can’t compete, with YOU BABY!” Sasha sang the lyrics, pointing at Ymir. Ymir blocked her ears. “You’ve got everything I need, nobody can please like you do BABY!”

“For the love of my mother, Sasha please stop.”

Sasha narrows her eyes. “Make me, ya freckled reject.” Sasha pokes her tongue out between the lines of the song.

“I would but I wouldn’t wanna get pig on my hand.”

Sasha’s mouth falls open, feigning offence. “A girl of your upbringing, saying such vile things!”

Ymir sniggers, “You’re an idiot.”

Sasha continues to dance to her song, the singing coming to a much-welcomed cease.

“So,” Ymir starts as Sasha studies her makeup in the mirror, “You gonna get with Connie tonight or what.”

Sasha bristles at Ymir’s words, thinking carefully about her reply. “I was hoping there’d be some lookers at this thing tonight, actually. Maybe one with good money, or a car. Mike’s pretty good looking, he got a brother or something Ymir?”

“You’re ignoring my question.”

Sasha shrugs, idly applying more lip gloss. “Leave me be, will ya? No need for you to be concerned about my love-life. What about your own, hm?”

Alarm bells go off in Ymir’s head. It wasn’t really her love life per se, but Sasha had left a perfect opening for Ymir to explain about Krista.

The fact that Sasha had been deliberately leading her off topic was forgotten by Ymir as she told Sasha, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Liar! You’re pulling my leg, what even Ymir?”

Ymir felt slightly giddy as she fished through her pocket to find the bit of paper adorned with Krista’s address to show Sasha.

“It’s her address, we’re picking her up after Connie.”

Sasha blinked, “Ymir, are you joking?” She sounded annoyed, not the reaction Ymir had anticipated. “She’ll be a total drag to have following us around. You better be prepared to babysit.”

“Oi! Fuckup yeah? It’ll be good, she’ll be a total light-weight, it’ll be funny to see her get plastered.” Ymir felt herself get defensive, it freaked her out. Sasha was looking at her funny, pigtails swinging, reminiscent of her silly dancing moments earlier.

“Ymir, ya best be knowing I ain’t gonna stick up for you when her daddy comes down from Sina and knocks you into tomorrow. Have fun with all that won’t cha?”

Ymir sulked, she wanted to Sasha to laugh and tell her she didn’t believe her, not get all serious. Ymir knew full well this wasn’t gonna end well, but she didn’t want people reminding her of all that. She was relying on Sasha to keep the mood light and maybe even piss her off a little, not make her stomach swim even further.

All this talk about arses getting kicked wasn’t helping Ymir stay relatively uncaring about the whole thing.

Yvonne and Mike picked the girls up at 7.30 and they brought milkshakes, Mike’s treat. Ymir kind of felt like a little kid, sitting in the back of Mike’s car, slurping her drink through the straw. Yvonne didn’t get as dressed up as she usually did, her makeup was strangely subdued. Yvonne was good at picking up the vibe of a place, so if she was toning it down, Sasha would stick out like a sore thumb.

Ymir let her mind wonder to what type of thing Krista would wear. Would she wear a skirt like she did for school, or would she let the hemline creep a little higher? Ymir silently hoped for the latter.

After the milkshakes, they went to pick up Connie. They had heaps of time to kill before the time the party was set to be at, and there was no way to contact Krista to let her know they might be a little early. Ymir wasn’t all that confident how well it would go if they picked Krista up before the time they’d set, so she wasn’t going to risk it.

With Connie seated inside, they continued to drive. The sun was getting lower in the sky already, casting pretty orange light across the town. They drove aimlessly, Ymir complained about boredom just as aimlessly.

“Wait,” Connie was pouting a little, “Why can’t we just head there early?”

“We have to pick up Krista,” Ymir explained quietly.

“Huh?” Connie tilted his head, “Who?”

 Sasha rolls her eyes from the middle seat.

Ymir swallowed, “Small blonde, rich, dating Jaeger. Ring any bells, baldy?”

Connie raised his eyebrows, looking strangely panicked “She’s pulling my leg, right?” He looked around the car, expecting an answer.

“Hey, that’s what I said!” Sasha perked up. It’s nice to know neither of her ‘friends’ believed a word Ymir said. Was it so hard to believe that a nice, blonde girl wanted to hang with her? Well, yeah probably. It was a better reaction than Sasha’s though.

Connie looked slightly less panicked than before, “So I’m not just really stupid then?”

Ymir sighed, “I’ll make you both eat ‘cha words, ya hear?”

Yvonne told them to ‘stop the fussing’ before she started sewing their mouths shut as they drove around in circles.

Ymir groaned as the boredom grew. “Why did ya have to pick us up so early?”

“We got done with doing nothing!” Yvonne snapped.

“Why didn’t you just have sex or something?” Ymir huffs.

“Ymir!” Yvonne turns around in her seat to whack Ymir on arm, Mike hides his face, a blush riding his cheekbones.

Killing time proved harder than what was first anticipated. Minutes seemed to take longer when you’re counting them. Ymir wondered how she’d lived 17 years of life and still hadn’t learnt that lesson. Why was this something that was just occurring to her now?

Having time on her hands made her think stupid things like that. Goddamn it.

Time was passed with shaky renditions of pop songs. Mike said their singing smelt absolutely horrible. Nobody questioned it.

After what felt like a month, Mike deemed it time to start heading to Krista’s house. The air inside the car was cold, which didn’t help Ymir’s jitters. She bounced her leg up and down as they drove.

The sun was down now and to be honest Connie looked tired already. Sasha looked hungry and impatient. Mike and Yvonne seemed happy enough, but they always seemed happy.

Krista’s house was massive. Well- it was Eren’s house technically, but Krista lived there currently, and Ymir preferred Krista’s name over Eren’s. So Krista’s house it would be.

Everyone (except Ymir) agreed that it should be Ymir to go knock on the door. Ymir tried to argue it should be Connie because he looked the least threatening, which earned her punch on the arm, but it came down to the fact that Ymir was the one invited Krista so she should be the one to go to the door.

With a dramatic struggle, Ymir clambered out of the car. She suddenly felt a wave of anxiety. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was scared about, but she was scared nonetheless.

Hands in pockets, Ymir trod across the grass, her sneakers making dents in the unnaturally even surface.

The windows of the house were lit, people were home. Ymir wondered what the inside of the house looked like. Probably nice.

They sound of leaves rustling and the engine of Mike’s car running was that could be heard. It was calm. Why did Ymir always feel better when things were chaotic? Why was she having so many dumb revelations today?

Inevitably, a small drop of chaos worked its way into the quiet night. Ymir heard a grunt and a strange creaking sound. Swallowing, she glanced around, craning her neck to find the source of the noise.

She heard another sound, like someone out of breath. It came from around the side of the house.

Ymir side stepped to look down the sliver of land between the house and fence. Ymir was faced with a strange scene.

Krista was hanging half out of her window, trying to shimmy her way out. Her blonde hair was falling into her face and she spluttered out of frustration, clawing the strands out of mouth and eyes.

Ymir felt a shock jolt through her body like she touched an electric fence. Was Krista alright? Why the ever-loving fuck was she using the window like a goddamned cat-flap? She was small but she wasn’t _that_ small.

“Krista!?” Ymir could hear the concern lacing her words clear as day.

The girl whipped her head upwards, only half her body in view. Her eyes were wide and she looked kind of insane. “Ymir!” She hisses, “Don’t go knock on the door, alright. I’ll be out in a second.”

Ymir glanced back at the car waiting for her, but she couldn’t catch anyone’s eyes. It was too dark.

She rushed over to Krista who was almost out of the window. She hadn’t gone about climbing out in a very conventional way and looked as if she was going to fall headfirst. She was lucky she wasn’t climbing out the second story.

“Uh, are you alright there? What are you doing?”

“Shhhhhh!” Krista shushed her harshly, looking up sharply before she tumbled out, somehow landing safely.

Ymir felt like she should help the girl in some way, but she wasn’t sure how. “What’s happening? You do have a door on this house, right?” Ymir whispered harshly.

Krista brushed herself off, “I had to sneak out.” She looked up at Ymir, she was trying to seem uncaring about the whole endeavour, but her voice betrayed her. It wavered and danced, skewing her words a bit.

Ymir raised an eyebrow. Sneaking out of a bedroom window was one thing, but sneaking out of a bedroom window to go to a party with a girl she hardly knew to a place filled with people she didn’t know existed was another.

“This won’t end well.” Ymir ran a hand through her hair as she muttered what she’d know all along. “Do your folks not know about this or something?”

Krista bounced from foot to foot, looking like she was about to burst. “I’m sorry Ymir, but can we talk about this is in the car. I’m just, uh, can we just please go?”

Ymir blinked at her. She shook her head and sighed. She grabbed at Krista’s arm with mild aggression and stomped off to the car.

Krista whispered her apologies as they walked. Ymir made no move to look at her, feeling annoyed was miles better than feeling anxious. At least it was a familiar feeling.

The car was as quiet as Ymir think’s it’s ever been. Everyone but Mike and Ymir was staring at the new addition. Krista stared at the road and then at Ymir and did that back and forth for a while. It was painfully awkward.

“I… I really like your dress,” Sasha spoke with awe. She sounded… shy almost. It was not a good look on Sasha. She kind of looked constipated.

Krista lifted her head, features soft and laced with gratitude, “Thank you! Your makeup is exquisite, you have such long lashes.”

Sasha melted into her seat, fiddling with a pigtail. “Ymir! You didn’t tell us you were bringing an angel of the Lord along with us tonight. How come y’all never compliment me like that?”

Krista giggled, looking over to Ymir. Ymir looked Sasha dead on, “She’s lying.”

Sasha scoffed, “You’re just mean Ymir! And I didn’t mean you.” She turned to look at Connie, “Why don’t you compliment me, hmm?”

Connie opened and closed his mouth like a fish, “Your hair looks good tonight, Sasha!”

Connie practically yelled the statement. Sitting up straight like he was addressing a superior officer. Yvonne snorted uncontrollably, like a pig. Mike even let out a short laugh.

“Are you two in a relationship?” Krista inquired politely.

Sasha stared at the blonde with horror, and Connie blushed a deeper red than the sweater he was wearing. Fun fact: the top of your head also turns red when you blush. Ymir was learning new things every day.

“No. We’re not,” Sasha laughed hurriedly, “He’s my buddy, see!” Sasha wraps an arm around Connie and pats his head. Connie looks like he’s about to barf-cry. Not a good look.

Krista giggles along with everyone, not really understanding the extent of the joke. She practically glows amidst the drab colours of the car. She’s wearing a bright blue dress. It came up around her neck with a white strap. It looked expensive, no wonder Sasha complimented it. Her slim legs are on display, but Ymir could see she still had stockings on. They matched the colour of her skin though, so Ymir still counted it as a win. She truly did look stunning though.

It seemed Sasha wouldn’t be alone in over-dressing, which Ymir recalled was something Krista had been worried about. She didn’t let herself feel bad about it though.

They had to drive for a while to get the party because Krista’s house was on the complete other side of town. Ymir watched the scenery get gradually more run-down the further away they drove. It made her feel angry.

Some of the awkwardness from before had dropped away, but by no means was it gone completely.

Sasha and Connie were floored by Krista’s presence and weren’t making fools of themselves like normal. Yvonne and Mike made quiet conversation in the front, Yvonne wasn’t even speaking to Krista like Ymir had expected her to do.

Nothing was going the way Ymir had wanted it to go. Her expectations hadn’t been very high, by any standards, but she hadn’t predicted it to be so… strange.

Krista seemed as comfortable as she could be, but that comfort came off as rather forced, if that was possible. Ymir watched her shift in her place. It was really squishy, so her small body was pressed up against Ymir’s. Ymir wasn’t complaining at all, she felt warm and soft.

Ymir wished she stolen a bit of Sasha’s perfume. She had been hoping for close proximity, but not expecting it, by any means. If Krista smelt anything, hopefully, she’d just write it off as someone else.

The ‘party venue’ looked shady as hell. Ymir felt something that was almost embarrassment. It wasn’t embarrassment, though. Ymir didn’t get embarrassed.

Everyone fell out of the car routinely. Krista looked kind of caught up though, her short legs not really reaching the ground properly as she exited the clunky vehicle. Mike rushed around to help her out. How gentlemanly.

Ymir saw Yvonne’s eyes light with malice. Jealously. Hitch has probably had quite the effect on her. Ymir wanted to pinch her sister, hard.

As they walked to the front door Ymir could hear music.

Krista walked alongside her, hugging herself, trying to keep warm.

“You cold?” What a dumb question, of course she’s fucking cold.

“Yeah, a little.” Krista grins, but it looks more like a grimace.

“I’d totally give you a coat if I had one.”

Krista laughs, “Are you sure you’re not cold too?”

Ymir runs a hand through her hair, which feels awkward and probably looks it too. “Thick skin. I’m immune, I guess.”

Krista accepts the response, nodding.

The exchange felt weird, what happened to the hyperactive Krista that had triggered this whole stupid turn of events? This Krista seemed too quiet, but not the polite kind of quiet. The sad, thoughtful kind of quiet.

It made Ymir mad, which although, wasn’t that hard to do, still meant something. She was probably upset about breaking the rules her boyfriend and boyfriend’s sister-mom had laid down. It probably wasn’t even Mr and Mrs Jaeger who didn’t want her to go.

She tucked away the angsty thoughts for later and brought herself back to the present.

Ymir had briefly met the whirlwind that was Hanji Zoe, but that had been quite a while ago. Yvonne had only just started dating Mike, and Hanji had been in the car with said boy to come pick her up. Ymir felt a weird rush of déjà vu as the door swung open, once again, she was faced with the too-bright eyes behind the glasses of the strange woman. Or man? Ymir didn’t know. She didn’t know how to ask either.

Mike referred to Hanji as a girl, so Ymir was just gonna go with that.

Hanji squealed at the site of Mike and Yvonne. She wrapped them in a bear hug, which didn’t really work very well seeing as she was shorter than both of them.

“It feels like I haven’t seen you guys in months!”

“We saw you on Tuesday.”

Hanji threw her head back and cackled. “Aw, I love you guys.” Mike and Yvonne, immune to Hanji’s exuberant style of expressing her affection, continued on into the house.

She ushered them inside, turning immediately back around to run her eyes over the teenagers still standing in her doorway.

Hanji took in a deep breath, “Look at the four of you! Aren’t ‘cha just the most darling things.”

She clasped her hands together like an old woman fawning over a newborn baby, “Today’s youth is so fascinating! Please, please, come join the fun!”

Ymir swallowed, glancing at Krista to catch her reaction. She looked happy, a little intimidated, but happy nonetheless. Hanji had that kind of effect on people.

“You must be Ymir!” Hanji cupped Ymir’s face with her hands. “You look just like your sister!”

“Uh,” Ymir swatted at the hands holding her face, “Yeah, I am. I do, unfortunately.”

She broke free of the woman’s grip. She could hear Connie sniggering from behind her.

Hanji demanded introductions from the rest of the group. She patted Connie’s bald head and smiled brightly at Sasha. She stopped when she got to Krista, though. She stood up straighter and cocked her head to the side.

“Now ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Krista glowed under the strange compliment, grinning up at Hanji. The halls of the small house were draped with blankets and sheets, all faded and threadbare, some looked like they had been hand painted. Krista shone, her light colours and sweet grin such a nice contrast against the dimly lit house.

Hanji wasn’t wrong in calling her that. It was truly calming to look at her. Her shine wasn’t glaring, it was soft and wonderful. It was ethereal.

Ymir caught herself thinking these sickly thoughts and gagged a little. Reality caught up with her and she sprang back into action. She strode deeper into the house, brushing past Hanji.

Sasha, Krista and Connie followed along. The initial hallway opened up into a bigger room. It had a lot more people inside. Old couches and chairs lined the place, a kitchenette of sorts tucked into one corner.

There were people dancing. Ymir spotted Yvonne sitting on Mike on a couch, talking to a girl with choppy short blonde hair.

The middle of the room made way for a redhead girl with tangled hair that fell long, down to the middle of her knees. Ymir marvelled at just how the heck she would’ve been able to grow it so long. The girl was dressed in hippy fashion, her jeans were flared and she wore a shabby crop-top. She danced, reaching her arms above her head, twirling her hips.

Nobody paid attention to the four kids as they entered. A few people nodded or smiled at Hanji, acknowledging her return.

Some people were smoking in the corner of the room. There was a record player playing rock songs. It was hazy and cool, and Ymir had a gross realisation that her little group were the youngest ones in the room.

Another gush of reality hit her as she wondered how the hell they were supposed to entertain themselves. Sasha would probably dance and mingle with Connie tailing close behind, no problems there, but what would Ymir do? There was no way she would be dancing, that she was sure of.

She glanced at the small girl next to her and wondered why exactly she invited her to this shithole. There was nothing for them to do. What did people normally do at parties?

Krista’s eyes were blown wide as she took in the scene. It was probably a little different from a Sina party. Krista looked up at Ymir with a grin, “This is an amazing song!”

Krista bopped in her seat, swinging her head in time to the music. They were seated on two stools by the ‘kitchen’. Hanji had fixed them both drinks, but Krista had only taken tiny sips of hers.

A pop love song was playing, it sounded like something that Sasha would listen to. Krista seemed to know the words, she mouthed along as she swayed. She smiled up at Ymir, hands clasped in her lap.

Ymir watched dreamily. They hadn’t really talked much. Yvonne had introduced them to a few people, but it had been kind of awkward. Everyone had been interested in Krista. The hippy girl had marvelled over Krista’s hair for a good 5 minutes. Her name was Petra. Hanji had talked to them momentarily, asking strange questions like “What’s your favourite brand of footwear?” before being whisked away by a group of people asking where the bathroom was.

Sasha was shimmying on the dance floor with a boy too old for her. Connie was talking to a couple who both had short black hair, looking sufficiently uncomfortable.

Ymir really wanted to talk to Krista, but she didn’t know what to say. Krista looked happy. A group of boys had asked her to dance a while back but she had politely declined. It made Ymir confused. This girl would sneak out of the house to go to a party against her boyfriend’s wishes, but would still stay loyal when other people asked her to dance?

Ymir waved her dreams of Krista two-timing with her goodbye.

They exchanged short observations of the party. Ymir made some lacking jokes and Krista laughed loudly to make her feel better. It was working fine, Krista seemed fine.

Hanji hadn’t made a scene in about half an hour when the clock struck 10. Ymir could see the gleam in her outdated cat-eye glasses from the other side of the room.

She squealed and run into the centre of the room, “Everybody shut up!”

Everyone shut up. All eyes were on Hanji. Someone lifted the needle on the record player, stopping the music.

“Levi. Where are you, my dear friend?”

Levi? Ymir didn’t know a Levi; therefore, she could not help Hanji with her search. Thankful that she didn’t have to contribute, Ymir lifted her eyes from the loud woman(man?) and fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

A quiet “For fuck’s sake,” could be heard from a far corner of the room. The crowd parted like the red sea, revealing a pissed off looking fellow with a weird haircut. He was sitting on a leather chair, wearing a leather jacket, with leather shoes on his feet. Leather Levi, Ymir snorted quietly to herself. She truly was hilarious.

The man glared at Hanji with a look that could freeze hell over, “What do you want, you oversized lab rat?”

“Levi! Baby! Do you know what time it is?”

Leather Levi stared blankly, “Time to get a watch, maybe?”

The room hummed with laughter, Levi didn’t break his unimpressed stare.

“No, my dear, you are sadly mistaken. It is time-“ Hanji cut herself off to point at the short haired blonde who had been talking to Mike and Yvonne when they’d first entered, “Nana if you would be so kind.”

‘Nana’ flicked through the collection of records, selecting one with a cover that looked well worn. A bright blue colour flashed before the girl pulled the vinyl from its cover and set it into place.

The room was buzzing, Ymir figured this was a regular occurrence. Her suspicions were proved correct when Levi sighed loudly, “You do this every time.” He placed his head in his hand as the jaunty beats of the song played out.

“Come on Levi! Dance with me!”

The room cheers as Hanji dances around herself to the bright beat. It was a popular song. Krista is laughing, whooping along with everyone else as Hanji pretends to lasso Levi in.

“I’m not dancing, you absolute…” Levi’s insults were swallowed by the loud music.

“You’re fine, so kind!” The room sang all together. Krista laughs again, moving closer to Ymir. She whispers in her ear and suddenly the music dims, all Ymir can hear is her sweet voice. “This is so much fun, we should get up and dance.”

Ymir’s vision goes a little hazy as Krista continues on, “Please dance with me.” Krista is so close that any hope of her believing that any bad smells came from Connie was lost.

“O-Okay” Ymir has no idea why she is agreeing to this. Once again, she finds herself screaming at herself to stop and not be a stupid dipshit and learn from your mistakes, but her efforts are in vain. She finds herself being pulled, Krista’s hand wrapped around her own. They are on the edge of the dance floor as Krista starts moving.

She bounces up and down to the song, still holding Ymir’s hand. Ymir moves awkwardly along, desperately trying to remember the way people on TV dance. She tries moving her feet but it just feels wrong, so she lets Krista lead the way.

Krista sings out the words to the song, urging Ymir to sing too. Ymir shakily sings, trying to feel uncaring and free, like she did when she sang in the car with her sister, but Krista was making her throat feel all tight.

She sang pathetically, glad her voice was lost in the sound of the rest of the party-goers.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ymir could see that Hanji had finally succeeded in getting Levi off of the couch. He was instantly swamped with people, they recruited Mike to lift him above the crowd, sitting him up on his shoulders. The room was laughing at the scene as Levi leant back, giving in and howling the words of the song.

Ymir couldn’t find it within her to care about Levi right now, Krista’s brilliant smile much more important to her. Krista leant up on her tiptoes to yell “Spin me!” to Ymir above the music.

“What’?” Ymir couldn’t properly make out what the girl was saying.

Krista shook her head, pulling herself close up to Ymir, “I said…” she giggled cheeks red, looking away for a moment, “Spin me!”

Ymir heard that time, a little taken aback. “Spin me, goddamn it!” Krista threw her head back, still pressed against Ymir.

This Krista was beautiful, so happy, so loud, niceties are thrown out the window. Ymir, for a brief moment, didn’t regret any of her decisions. Her decisions to speak to this girl, to invite this girl to some lame, hoodlum riddled party, to dance with this girl like there was no tomorrow.

Ymir lifted her arm and stepped back, allowing Krista to spin out and away from her. She laughed again, throwing her free arm out and the curling it back in as she spun towards Ymir once more. Once she was back close she grabbed for Ymir’s other arm placing it around her own waist. Ymir felt her cheeks flush deeply, how could this get any better?

Krista placed her hand on Ymir’s shoulder, rocking them quickly back in forth, in a strange, double-time, kind of waltz.

“I can’t dance,” Ymir admitted as Krista enthusiastically led Ymir around in little circles.

“That’s ok,” Krista said sincerely as the song was changed one equally as bright. Ymir didn’t know this one.

They continue to dance messily. Ymir could see Sasha dancing with Connie across the room, and smiled even wider. She allowed herself to deem the night a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooooo. I hope you guys liked!!! There were a few songs mentioned in here and they are REAL SONGS so I'll link to them if anyone wants to have a listen. Next chapter will be Eren and hopefully pretty interesting (I'll try my hardest) There'll be some big developments which I'm excited to write and we'll finally get to see the other precious brunette in this fic again. I haven't forgot about you Eren you still own my heart!! Also feel 310% free to comment, literally anything is welcomed and will be responded to with copious amounts of love ♥♥♥  
> -  
> -  
> songs:   
> 'You Baby' The Mamas & The Papas 1966 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbPZD0gVvzE (Sasha's bedroom)  
> 'Great Balls of Fire' Jerry Lee Lewis 1964 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IjgZGhHrYY (Hanji's song)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hicsnaSOSNC THIS IS OVERDUE. I'm sorry about that, but it's here now!! Eren chapter!! Whoooo!! I hope you guys enjoy it, please feel free to leave feedback or kudos to let me know if you do! Not the most shippy chapter, but I needed to get that Eren in! Okay,,, read on my beautiful readers!!!

** Chapter 7  **

Peaceful nights were good. Peaceful nights were welcomed. Peaceful nights should not be interrupted. Eren _was_ having a peaceful night for a while there but alas, sadly, nothing good can last.

Eren was awoken with a slap to the face. Surprisingly, Eren had only ever been awoken with a slap to the face twice. It wasn’t any better the second time around. Unsurprisingly, both times were courtesy of Mikasa.

His sister’s eyes were ferocious. She looked panicked and deadly serious. Eren would’ve held a little more concern as to why she looked so worried if he had been faced with those eyes after he had woken up naturally. To the sound of birds chirping and sun dancing through his window, perhaps.

Mikasa gave her brother a small moment to wake up before laying it on him, “Krista’s gone.” Alright, that caught Eren’s attention.

“What do you mean?” Eren pushed a lock of hair out of his face, sitting up in the bed.

“She’s gone! She’s not in the house.” Mikasa paced, biting her thumbnail.

“Woah, slow down. Explain please.” Eren willed his mind to catch up, but he was still a little foggy from sleep. What did his sister mean, how could Historia be gone? Eren had watched her wish his parents good night only hours earlier. She had been tired, she had gone to bed.

Mikasa turned around and grabbed him by the shoulders, “Please take this seriously. I was walking past her room after washing my face and the door was ajar. I looked inside and her bed was empty. The window was open. Do you understand?”

Eren backed up on the bed, “Have you searched the rest of the house? Maybe she just got up to get a drink, she could be listening to us squawk about this right now.”

“Do you take me for a moron, brother?” Eren gulped, he didn’t want to mess with Mikasa right now. She was right, Eren should’ve known she wouldn’t have involved him unless she was positive something was up. Eren started to feel a panic rise within him. If Mikasa was right, and Historia was really gone, then how the heck were they going to get her back?

“Should we get Mom and Dad?” Eren looked up at his sister, his face a mask of concern.

“No!” Mikasa barked, then in a softer voice, “No. This is something we need to deal with ourselves, ok?”

Eren had no idea how Historia being literally _missing_ qualified as something that shouldn’t involve grown-ups, but he didn’t argue. He trusted Mikasa. Eren stood up from the bed, throwing off his sleeping shirt in favour for an actual one, “What do you propose we do then?”

“If this was a kind of kidnapping situation, I think we would’ve heard something. You’d have to be pretty dang gutsy to literally take someone from their bedroom in a house full of people, but we’re not ruling it out entirely.”

Eren marvelled at just how fast Mikasa could switch her brain on. She’d be a good detective, he decided. Her calculating words boomed inside his ears.

They moved into Historia’s bedroom. Eren’s mind was becoming clearer by the second and severity of the situation dawned on him. His breathing becomes heavier, why was this happening?

Historia’s room looked so empty, her bed hadn’t even been touched, the blankets in pristine condition. Her makeup and perfume were laid out on the dresser in the corner and the closet doors were closed.

Why did this have to happen? Eren let daunting realisation that they’d have to actually do something about this wash over him. Mikasa was saying something but Eren wasn’t really listening. He heard her mutter something about changing into actual clothes when something hit him.

It hit like a punch to the gut. “Oh, for fucks…” Eren groaned, head in hands.

“Don’t swear please,” Mikasa quipped without thinking, before whipping her head around so fast Eren was surprised it didn’t fly off. He’d be more concerned if he wasn’t busy feeling physical pain over his own ignorance.

His shut his eyes as tight as it was possible to. Wringing his mind, trying to sort it out.

“Wait, what did you realise? Eren are you alright?” Mikasa rushes over.

“Friday night, 27 Madison Street.” Eren stares at Mikasa, “Friday night, 27 Madison Street.”

Mikasa shook her head, “Stop talking gibberish Eren, what does that mean?”

Eren felt his head whir to action, forcing his mouth to work properly, “Krista had that on her hand. She had the words ‘Friday night, 27 Madison Street’ written on her hand.”

Mikasa leant forward, looking Eren dead on, “Do you think that’s where she’s gone?”

Eren swallowed, “She told me it was Mina’s address, that they were working on a math project together. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now…”

“That’s not Mina’s address, I’ve been to her place before.” Mikasa sighs, flopping down on Historia’s untouched bed. “Madison street is a good car ride away, someone must’ve come and picked her up. If that’s where she’s off to, at least.”

“Why’d she have the address on her hand if she was getting picked up?” Eren wondered aloud.

Mikasa shrugged in reply, “It’s the best lead we’ve got,” She closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath, “I sure hope this isn’t something more sinister than just sneaking out.”

The two were silent. Eren knew they were thinking the same thing, imagining the worst-case scenario. Eren didn’t want to think of anything happening to Historia, but it was hard not to.

Not wasting any more time, Eren moved to the window, wordlessly signifying to Mikasa what was going to happen. 

He clambered out gracelessly, followed by Mikasa who didn’t even break a sweat. He didn’t have enough time for embarrassment so he just kept on moving.

It was quite the ordeal, trying to get into the car without causing a ruckus. Eren held his breath as his sister started the ignition. He prayed to every deity he could think of that his parents wouldn’t catch them. He watched his sister carefully as they pulled out of the driveway. Without the headlights on it was really hard to see what they were doing, but Mikasa was a good driver, so they made it out safely.

Eren wondered why Mikasa hadn’t wanted to tell their parents about the issue. She was acting as if she had something to prove. That sounded like Mikasa. She wasn’t reckless, but she could be prideful sometimes. Did she want to play hero? Was that it? Eren knew he shouldn’t be focusing on stuff like that when there were clearly more pressing matters at hand, but he couldn’t help it.

Mikasa rarely lost her cool, but tonight she had. Briefly, of course, but it still counted. Something about having Historia to look after had sparked a chain reaction within her that was slowly breaking her down. Eren was worried about his sister, he knew she can take care of herself, but it still threw him to see her off her game. He knew she’d be alright though, she was Mikasa. You could count on her.

It was a few minutes into the drive before anyone spoke. “We should bring Jean,” Mikasa spoke with authority, Eren wasn’t getting out of this. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to fight about it though.

“No way! This is a serious situation! Not a playdate.”

Mikasa didn’t take her eyes off the road, “He owns a knife.”

His sister’s words resonated inside Eren’s head. They wouldn’t need a knife, would they? Eren didn’t reply, wordlessly complying as Mikasa turned down Jean’s street.

“I’ll go get him, you’ll just aggravate him.”

Eren chuckles, “You? Showing up to his window in a night shirt? He’ll think it’s a dream.”

Mikasa pulls her lips together, going red, “Don’t be such a child.”

Eren continues to laugh before the wave of guilt hits him. How could he laughing when there was a possibility Historia could be surrounded by thugs? Out there, getting herself into things she didn’t understand? Eren hurriedly opened his mouth before Mikasa left the car. “Be quick about it, ‘Kasa. We can’t afford to be straggling right now.”

Mikasa nodded, “Of course.”

Eren sat in the silent car, mulling over the night’s events. It had had such protentional to be a normal Friday night. He felt a wall of exhaustion hit him as he waited for his sister’s return. He willed himself to stay alert, picturing Historia’s scared eyes. Pictured guys like that blonde boy Reiner, pictured things he hoped with all he had wouldn’t be true.

He was so stupid, he was supposed to be Historia’s boyfriend! What sort of boyfriend let these things happen? He hit the dashboard out of frustration. The sting on his knuckles woke him up a little. Why had Historia felt the need to sneak out? Did she not trust Eren? Was she being forced? Blackmailed?

What could anyone possibly have on Historia?

Eren snapped his head upwards when someone tapped sharply on the window shield. He is greeted with the ever-idiotic gaze of Jean Kirschtein. Eren, for the first time maybe ever, felt relief when faced with those eyes. He could count on Jean to lighten the situation a little.

Jean swung himself into the car, “I hate you for dragging me into this, you chop.” He grabbed Eren’s shoulders from the backseat, “We’ll get your girl back though, don’t you worry. Krista will be home, safe and sound.”

“Do you have your blade?”

Jean clears his throat as Mikasa sits back in the driver’s seat. “Yeah, I got it.” He pulls it out of his big overcoat to show Eren. He looks like an oversized kid playing spies.

Seeing Jean holding the blade seems to take the edge off the fact that they had an actual knife that they may or may not be put to use, but Eren still couldn’t help to stare at it. It had a glare to it that was sickening. He didn’t trust Jean with it.

Sensing his discomfort, Mikasa put a hand on his arm, “It’ll be fine, Eren.” She spoke softly, but something about her words made them feel as if they were as much for her as they were for her brother.

Jean babbled on for a bit as they drove, but neither Eren or Mikasa spoke back. He gave up after a while, failing in break the icy atmosphere.

He sat staring out the window, huffing warm breath onto the glass so it fogged up. Eren would’ve normally told him to stop, but his mind was on other things.

He followed Jean’s lead and also stared out the window. The neighbourhood they were driving through looked a lot different from the one Eren lived. He wondered briefly whether or not he’d even driven around here before. There are some kids walking on the footpath. They have long hair and bottles in their hands. Eren makes eye contact with one of them, a guy with blonde curls. Eren looks away instinctively. The guy stops walking and stares at the car as it drives away.

It didn’t help with Eren’s unease, the brief encounter. He leans against the window, closing his eyes. He can hear Mikasa and Jean’s breathing, just slightly out of time with each other. Normally he would’ve put on the radio, but it seemed… disrespectful almost.

Eren frowned at that, Historia hadn’t died. He felt a shiver up his spine that he tried his hardest to ignore. He’d never forgive himself is something did actually happen to her. It hurt to think about, made him sick to the stomach.

“We’re here,” Mikasa mumbled, parking the car. There were other cars parked around this street, there was a big van parked out the very front of number 27, detailed with flowers and peace signs. Eren had seen vans like that before, a kid from their school had one.

They all exited the vehicle. Eren’s legs felt shaky and he was scared he might collapse. He soldiered on, chastising himself for his wimpy behaviour. He was supposed to be strong.

Mikasa walked up to the door without looking back, followed closely by Jean. Eren jogged to keep up with them.

The house looked kind of run down. The windows emitted a soft yellow glow that contradicted Eren’s muddled insides. There was music playing, he figured there was some kind of party going on inside.

The music playing didn’t really sound like the type of stuff Historia listened to. He tried to imagine her dancing to it, he could, but it didn’t feel right.  Historia rarely let loose, Eren wondered if she even knew how to dance at a party. As far as he knew the only parties she’d been too had been civil and chaperoned. He really hoped there was nothing dodgy going on inside, nothing Historia was involved in any way.

“Get your blade out,” Mikasa murmured at Jean. The boy fumbled around in his coat, jumping to action at Mikasa’s order.

Jean held the knife awkwardly at his side and tried his best to look menacing. Eren looked down at himself, figuring he should try to look intimidating too. He noted the way in which his bottom half was still covered by striped pyjama bottoms and cringed. Maybe whoever was inside the house would just assume they were some kind of hippy fashion statement.

Mikasa, who couldn’t help but look fierce, even wearing clothes she went to bed in, raised her fist to knock on the door.

She knocked with gusto, keeping her features cold and focused. Eren drew in a breath as he heard heavy footsteps draw closer.

Eren felt he had been bracing himself for much worse when the door finally opened. It was the same feeling you feel when you push really hard against something and it finally gives way. Eren wasn’t actually falling forward, but it felt like it. He wanted to use all his strength to consume the house entirely, like if he could glare hard enough he could extract out and away.

There was a bored looking girl standing in front of them. She ran her brown eyes over the three, pausing on Jean’s knife, which hung at his side.

“We’re here for Krista.” Mikasa’s voice cut through the air. Eren was breathing heavily, he feels himself lunge forward. Mikasa sticks out a hand to stop him.

The girl blinks, then turns herself around, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Hanji!”

Eren vibrates on the spot, wanting to run inside. What does ‘Hanji’ mean? Is it code? He watches as someone rounds the corner into sight. They’ve got their hair in a ponytail and girly glasses, but the hard features of their face confuse Eren. Their cheeks are dusted with pink and their hair is a mess.

“We’re here for Krista,” Eren repeats his sister’s earlier statement as the person moves up to lean against the doorframe, very close to Mikasa’s face.

“Say,” the person slurred their words a little, tipsy, “Are you three friends of young Ymir? You look about the same age.”

Mikasa lifts her head up menacingly, “Ymir?”

The person ignores her question, focusing instead on the blade in Jean’s hand, “Or perhaps you’re here to cater for us?”

“Cater?!” Eren sneered, Jean’s nostrils flare.

“Well, aren’t you? Why else would you have a chef’s knife in hand?” The person grinned pointing a finger. All eyes went to Jean.

“I thought you said your father gave you that knife, the hunting knife.” Mikasa narrowed her eyes. Jean spluttered, turning the knife over in his hand.

“I must’ve, uh, been mistaken in the dark.”

The person laughed loudly, “Ah- that’s priceless! I am very intrigued as to why you have a knife at all, so you’re allowed in.”

Eren went to move but was once again stopped. “I already told you, we’re just here for Krista. If you refuse to return her to us safely, we’ll be forced to take more extreme measures.”

The person was unfazed and it made Eren even madder. “What’s a Krista?”

Mikasa looked like she was on the very edge of going berserk, “Small, blonde girl. If you have done anything to hurt her-”

From behind the horrid glasses, brown eyes lit up, “Oh so you _are_ friends of Ymir! Well, your Krista is right through here. She’s quite a beautiful one, you know? I can assure you she’s fine…”

Eren reaches his boiling point and storms inside, knocking the strange person out of the way. He hears Mikasa call after him but he doesn’t stop.

Jean catches up to him first, grabbing his shoulders. They are faced with a cramped room, full of dancing strangers. A rock song was blaring and everyone was up and jumping around the middle of the room. Eren scans the place for Historia. He can’t see her.

He doesn’t recognise anyone in the room.

He’s been to parties before, but usually, they weren’t as swinging as this one. It wasn’t necessarily a very big party, but the energy was through the roof.

Mikasa joins them, stepping out in front. 

The person from before strides up behind them, speaking loudly and causing them to jump. “You three are in quite the rush!”

They spin around, Mikasa grabs Eren’s arm.

“Will you please just find Krista for us?” Jean huffs as he recovers from the shock.

The person nods through their laughter and sets off, making their way across the party. The trio follows closely behind. Dancers call after the person, using the same weird word from before. Maybe it was a name? Eren didn’t have much time to ponder on the matter though, as the sight before him was simultaneously the most stressful and relieving thing he’d even seen.

There she was. Her hair was a little dishevelled but other than that, she looked unharmed. She was wearing the blue dress she’d worn on Mikasa’s birthday a year ago. She had a gleam in her eyes and a big smile on her face. She was sitting on someone’s lap.

“Krista!” A chorus of joyous cries erupted. Krista whipped her head around, whacking whoever she was perched on square in the face. Mikasa and Jean go straight for the small girl, but Eren focuses on the person left sitting in the chair.

He lets the pent-up rage and worries inside him flow. He recognises the face almost instantly. He has to search his mind for the name, but in the moment, it didn’t worry him. He grabs her by her shirt collar. Ymir, that was it.

“I thought I told you to stay away!” Ymir struggles against Eren but manages to get his hands off her.

“I think you’ll find, _psychopath_ ,” Ymir sneers as she stands, just taller than the enraged boy. “That she came to me!”

Eren all but growls, clenching his fists at his sides. He is happy Historia is safe but he can’t help but feel such an immense hatred for the girl in front of him. It’s her fault Historia even thought to stray.

“You have no business talking to her! She’s 5 times the women you could ever hope to be. Hoodlum _scum_.”

Ymir’s nostrils flare, “What did you just say, you rich-boy pig?”

Eren can hear people gather as he stands his ground. He feel’s Mikasa’s arms on him, pulling him back. “Goddamn it Eren. I’ll deal with this.” He hears her mutter, stepping up to Ymir.

Eren doesn’t hear what she says to the girl. He wants to continue fighting, he doesn’t want to look weak in front of Historia. It bugged him oh so much that she was in this situation. Why’d she sneak out? What did Ymir want with her? _Is_ there something more sinister going on? Why couldn’t this just be a normal year?

He feel’s small hands on his. Historia’s big eyes held his. She nodded at him and then adverted her eyes. “This is not Ymir’s fault!” Her voice rose above the crowd. ‘

Everyone turns to look at her. Eren goes to interject but she continues before he can get a word in. “It’s my fault that I sneaked out. It was foolish, I was aware what I was doing was wrong! Please, leave her be.”

Eren feels his mood soften a little. Historia is staring at Ymir and is Mikasa. Mikasa pushes Ymir a little, leaving the girl scowling.

Mikasa talks to Historia. Hands on her shoulders, eyes deadly serious. A little part of Eren’s mind remembers they should be getting back in case their parents realise they’re gone.

A few people run to Ymir, calling out obscenities at Mikasa. Eren watches as Ymir trains her eyes to Historia’s blonde head. It’s a sad, menacing sort of expression that masks her face. Eren glares at her.

Quite a crowd had gathered in midst all the drama and Eren feels boxed in. He can see Jean and Mikasa leading Historia away. He turns to follow them with his fists clenched by his side.

He hates the way the partygoers stare, he can feel their eyes. They probably knocked shoulders with Historia, probably offered to dance with her, talk with her. He hates them. Feral dropouts.

It’s only for a split second, but Eren swears he can see a pair of very familiar eyes in the crowd. He feels his pulse quicken and keeps walking. He catches the eyes again. He feels like he might faint. He walks faster, catching up with his sister.

The strange feeling he’d felt before when he’d seen eyes like that returned. It was a little bit scared he might fall over.

He steals a glance over his shoulder and there, clear as day, the eyes shine. Grey and icy. He only sees their owner for a split second and a chill runs down his spine.

“Let’s get the heck out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS MAY HAVE SEEMED LIKE A FILLER BUT IT'S RELEVANT PLEASE BELIEVE ME. I know everything is running quite slow so far, but the pace will pick up in the next few chapters!! School is giving me HELL and exams are just around the corner :( I'm gon' be busy but I'll try my hardest to get these out on time!! SO MUCH LOVE FOR Y'ALL,, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY SOUL FOR READING!!

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: disloyalrder  
> ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡


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